Newbie’s Guide Ver.2

The last document I made and released in the AoKH Blacksmith was skimpy, and very small. Though, a lot of people found some use of it, I fell it didn’t accomplish much. So after 1000 people downloaded it, I decided to make a new document, way better than the last.

This document will be a complete compilation of everything I know. I have been playing AoK for about 2 ½ years, and I have mastered the basics, and been around to know what is good and what is not. Some of life’s basic rules apply to scenario editing, and game playing. Everyone from Newbies to Pros can learn at least something, if not a lot.

Along with this pack is a CPN that is playable in AoK. It is an interactive guide of Scenario Design. You are a student being taught by Professor Outlaw BG (me), and other GoD members. You will be taught basics and tricks that are useful. You will get a face to face hands on how to use the Scenario Building Tool successfully.

There are lot of different abbreviations, and cyber slang on the Internet. Most of it comes up when two or more casual people chat. Reading in an Internet chat room is like hearing another language to some people. I suggest you read all these terms before reading the rest of the document. Here is a list of terms:

I will try to cover all the basics of AoK and the Map making. It is advised that you read all of the basic, for not reading them, you will probably not understand all of the advanced topics.

1. Starting Off

1. Getting Prepared

1. You must always make sure you have the most recent update. It can help you a lot when you what bugs fixed, that may have bugged you in the past.
2. The in-game interactive tutorial is very useful. It has taught me when I got the AoK Trial version, way a long time ago. Always at least play the tutorials in games, no matter how boring they may be some times.
3. Making an account for online play is always easy. You can sometimes make up more than one account. But, for the sake of your associates, please stick to one name, or make your names sound similar: ex. "Benyuolmen", "Benyuolmen the VI", "General Benyuolmen".
4. Print the manual of the game and read it when you can be on the computer if you have to. They don’t type those things for nothing.
5. If you get technical issue, always refer to the Read me, or Instructions document before bothering a professional at the company site. It annoys the hell out of them when you ask them simple questions, which created the FAQ questions section on most sites. If you can find an answer in the Read Me, THEN go to the site for Technical Help.

1. Playing the Computer Player

1. God, I tell you people now. JUST BECAUSE YOU BEAT THE COMPUTER DOESN’T MEAN YOU CAN BEAT THE ONLINE PLAYERS, EVEN IF YOU BEAT THE COMPUTER ON HARDCORE OR EASY.
2. The computer player has a few advantages: Pre commanded orders so there is no wasted time, speed, knows where you are automatically, knows everything of the game, knows exactly how to attack.
3. Computers are more advanced, but are very repetitive. They are predictable.

1. Playing the Online Players

1. These players have been playing maybe for years, 5 hours a day. They know what they are doing. From Xperts to Newbies, and rooks, skills and styles vary. The online player is human, so therefore he has human qualities, remember that.
2. The Online Player has a few advantages over the computer: isn’t repetitive, actually has pity and remorse, emotions and can communicate.
3. Player’s hardware can either win or lose a battle, and possibly annoy the hell out of other players. Remember to never download while playing a game, or don’t run any applications.
4. Online services like ZONE provides servers, or ROOMS where you can host and/or join games for people to play.

1. In The Forums

1. Behavior

1. Yes, entering and participating in forums is like visiting a friend’s house, respect his mom and dad, don’t be mean to his younger siblings, and don’t trash the place. You have to respect ALL forumers, especially Newbies.
2. Required Qualities:

1. Honesty
2. Patience
3. Open minded
4. Good Grammar/Spelling
5. Respectful
6. Informative
7. Cautious
8. Thoughtful

1. Don’t use bad language. If the people there know you pretty well, they probably won’t care too much. But on most forums, you aren’t allowed to use bad language.
2. DO NOT DEFAME! It is a lowly thing to do. If you have a problem with someone don’t post a topic that insults them. Don’t post topics about people at all.
3. If you say something, like if someone said something, then later on lied about saying it, quote it by searching for the Topics name, and copying. Always include the full statement, and the person’s name.
4. I use this rule, only post two topics for every 30 on screen. Flooding is hated and called newbish.

1. Perhaps one of my favorites…6 WAYS YOU’RE A NEWBIE

1. You flood by posting topics that are off-topic.
2. You start a team without joining one first.
3. You’re new.
4. You don’t know what someone means when they state a place on the site, like Blacksmith on AoKH.
5. You ask very simple questions like "How do you make a Town Center?". I say that is a newbie, but not a bad thing. I even have a forum that helps people with their questions.
6. Even the Officials have to tell you to shut up.
7. I am not trying to harm or insult you. This was made so you can see if you’re a newbie or not.

1. Bad Characteristics

1. Insulting others.
2. Flooding.
3. Always calling the officials.
4. Talking about something you made.
5. Going from topic to topic talking about something OT (off-topic).
6. Cussing too much.
7. Disrespecting innocents or officials.
8. Generalizing.
9. Disrespecting Newbies.
10. Making false statements.

1. Hints

1. Never make false statements. Because if you do, people in the forum will criticize you over it, and ignore what you are even trying to say.
2. Be very clear in your posts.
3. People are very very very quick to insult you. So be correct, respective, and considerate. Follow the required qualities.
4. Making interesting topics, especially with catchy interesting topic names catch attention. Making catchy interesting topic names will attract people better than boring names. Example: Good "Is AoK Dying! How?", Boring "Han’s Design Team Updates"
5. Remember Moderators have complete control over posts.

1. Map Making

1. Designer Qualities

1. Patience
2. Thinks ahead of time
3. Preplaner
4. Knows what he/she has to work with

1. Work Qualities

1. Hints

1. Be creatives, and innovative. There are too many copies, and same-old-same-old things. Stand out!
2. Put time and faith in your work. Don’t trash an idea.
3. Work on two or more different things at a time. When you get bored of one, work on the other, never stay stuck to one thing.
4. Make DEMOs of your work, and post it on the site. Be very very attractive about it. Like why people would want to waste time and space downloading it. Advertise in a forum, only once!
5. Have it play tested by friends. GoD Playtests.
6. Its okay to put-off something, and work on another.
7. Get suggestions, damn near encourage and demand comments on your work.

1. Team Map Making

1. There is a certain process that should be followed:

1. Get Idea, build on it.
2. Discuss it with team
3. Assign each player their tasks
4. Make a demo of the very first, most informative SCN in your Campaign, and post it on a big site, better yet, three big sites. Ask for comments.
5. Depending on the feedback, continue or cancle the idea.
6. Work on idea if continued.
7. Playtest it till death.
8. Release it

1. Don’t expect people to fall instantly in love with your project when you talk about it. You gotta capture their interest.
2. Stay in very tight communication with your team.
3. Always report of your progress.
4. Stay together.
5. Be organized.

What separates the boys from men, eaters from feeders, players from designers. Designers provide the players with more of a gameplay. I can’t explain why it is so fun to make for others. All I can say is that it is kind of a game. Players and Designers are separate. It kind of seems like Designers design things for other Designers, and Players play with Players. There is competition for glory, and respect.

The Scenario Editor for Age of Empires Series is a very good tool. It is one of the things that made the AoE Series so great. Maybe it is it’s simplicity, yet power. Anyway it is a very usefull, deep, tool. It can reflect the editors skills easily. What you put into it, you get back. Some say time makes the best of maps. This section will describe things and techniques of the editor, and hints. Remember to play the CPN Guide. It is a CPN that can be played by AoK.

Eyecandy

Eyecandy, it can either make or break the looks of a map. If you use it, use it with care and you have to know when enough is enough. It is like makeup for Eyecandy is units, gaia, and terrain mixed together to make more attractive or realistic scenes. Too much eyecandy can totally ruin the whole effect, sometimes making it look worse than if it were not made with eyecandy.

No, eyecandy is not some kind of unit or different mode of terrain in the editor. It is more like a theory among Designers, an idea. I am telling you, eyecandy is delicate! So know how to use it if you really want to. Here are some examples of good and bad eyecandy, and why.

See Left how plain and dull the scene looks? Now look at the right and how detailed and prettier it looks.

Bad Placement, broken tradecarts where tradecarts don’t go? That’s not in the right place.

Bad Placement, this is the funniest. I wish I was walking down my street, and I saw a pile of gold. How the hell would gold be in the middle of no where like that? Especially near a road? Away from the mountains?! Wrong Place!

Bad Placement, you see those white lines? It is ugly when you have a nice scene and then you see those lines. Don’t place units behind other units, or the lines will pop up. Happens mostly near trees and forage bushes. It is very unnatural.

Good Placement, I would call this the perfect path…or pretty good path. See the flowers coming out the feet of the tress? Bushes without lines, rocks placed nicely. Simple, yet beautiful.

Bad Placement, there is gold, there is a bush with lines, relic in the middle of the road. Gold doesn’t form near roads. The lines near the bush is ugly. And what are the chances of finding a relic in the middle of the road?

Hopefully these pictures I took will help you out some. If you look through the files, you will find a CPN. It is an interactive guide for AoK on Scenario Design. It has map tricks, tips, and a guide that can help you a lot, plus it is kind of fun.

Other designers love this. No 5.0 map is perfect without it. Trigger tricks are triggers that do thngs you would’nt think posible in AoK. I will show you some tricks of mine I created. Some are basic, and some complex. You will eventually learn some for your self. Sharing them among others is very useful.

Readable Sign (simple)

*Trigger 1- Make Object Selected CONDITION on sign. Make Display Instructions EFFECT, and type the instructions. You can’t use the enter key to make a new line. It is some kind of two boxes looking thing. Copy it from an existing text. Set the display limit for the Dialogs to 1 second.

*having a mp3 file that is null could help. That way it doesn’t make that sound when a Dialog pops up. It is included in this pack.

Freeze Unit (simple)

Trigger 1- No CONDITION. Make Task EFFECT to make the unit go to a spot. Set the TRIGGER to TRIGGER LOOP. That way it will keep playing the trigger as the condition is meet. Though there is no condition, it keeps going. Stop by…

Trigger 2- (optional) Make a Deactivate EFFECT along with any CONDITION you want. Use the EFFECT to stop the unit freeze.

Destroyable Bridge (complex)

Trigger 1- Make Demolition Boat(s) use Task EFFECT to go near bridge

Trigger 2- CONDITION, when Demolition Boat(s) are near bridge, Kill EFFECT on them to explode. Make Remove EFFECT on bridge section to be blown up. Make Creat EFFECT on bride to place the broken bridge parts.

To make it more realistic, use the Explotion trick.

Explotion (simple)

Trigger 1-CONDITION (what ever you want. Optional). Make EFFECT1 Create a hawk, preferably with Gaia beng the owner. And EFFECT2 kill (not remove) the hawk.

It makes an explotion. I don’t even know how someone couldv’t figured that one out.

Trigger Tricks help a lot. It is kind of like creating your own effect, with other effects. I will only display a few of my tricks because I want you to find them. More will be shown in the Interactive CPN Guide.

All skills aside, this is an impoertant part. "If a SCN takes you under a month to make, it isn’t good enough." I heard from a forumer. It makes sence. But some SCNs will surely take under a month, and it depeneds on how good/fast the Designer is. But it is a statement behind itself, meaning that you have to put time into what you do to make it good. The more time, the better.

Patience is a big part in making a good map. The best of SCNs don’t come in days. It took me about 2 months to make one of my SCNs. And I am fast. Patience is more if you have motivation. Having fans anxiously awaiting your work can be motivating. Being excited at how fun it will be can be motivating. But, don’t fell bad to work on more than one thing. If you get bored of one, work on the other, don’t give up. And don’t trash ideas if you think it will be bad, without asking around first. Especially if its a certain SCN in a CPN. Not all SCNs can be fun. Some have to just move the story along, nothing is wrong with that.

You absolutly can’t be lazy. If your getting bored, then stop and take a break. Don’t play around or do things you didn’t really intend on having in your map. Preparing what you want in your SCN ahead of time works a lot!

Sure, it would be nice to have a SCN all about action, and flashy looks. But, without a good storyline, it will crumble. This applies mostly to RPG Campaigns. Characters must have personalities; be funny, cool, evil, vigilant. Story must be capturing; have suprises, comedy, drama, excitement, sadness. Don’t go over board though. Players have to fell they are spending an hour to beat a SCN for a purpose. Is it to free the French Soldiers, so they can help France from invasion of the Viking barbarians, or is it simply to get to the next level?

And making the same old plots are boring. The same boring Themes annoy players; One vs. World, One vs. Authority, Save the Queen/Princess. Try to be creative. Always strive to be unique. Stand out. People have to have a good reason to want to play your work that you slave to work on. At least make it right all the way.

Recreating a historical event is hard to me. Because you have to research it, and have your facts straight. But aim for it if it is not taken. I beg you, please don’t make a Robin Hood CPN. I have even done it in my early days. Don’t repeat.

What if someone made a new building, a Wonder. It was all beautiful, then when someone closed the doors it all fell to the ground? That would suck, right? Ofcourse! That is why you test things. Scientists test rockets, everything important is tested.

When testing your map, fix the problem as soon as you see it, that way you won’t forget. And after you have play tested your own SCN, send it to someone for them to play test it for you. If fact, send it to three people.

You might test your map, and check your triggers and everything, but you still have something wrong? Check the AI. You can tell if your map crashes at the beginning it has to be a AI problem.

Forumers have posted many very useful topics for people in the AoKH forum. Some more useful than others, but they all have a purpose. I suggest you read these topics:

Triggers

Anything Relating to Triggers in AoK is here:

Libraries

Now, before you go make a team after reading this section, you need to know what you are getting your self into. You can’t just see someone with a team, and suddenly want to make one of your own. It is way more than you think.

Some newbies want to just make a team instead of joining one because they like the power of having people look up to them, and be able to tell them what to do. A leader has to be very strong to control a team, and make them have faith in their leader. A leader has to have patience, concideration, and know how to run a team. You ever have a group project in Science class? Are you the team leader or team worker? Most chances are that you were the team worker because the same smart ass student always ends up being the leader. You have to understand that people are dependeding of your words. You always have to keep in contact with them, and be clear and informative.

There is no shame at all in being lead, or being the worker. In fact, I suggest you join a team, a stable team to understand how a team works. I didn’t start off joining, I started off creating. It was a lucky mistake, because I was able to recruit at least three people. But at the time newbies were also making teams, and the word in the forums was that "ALL the teams recruiting now are just newbies who don’t know what they are doing. So don’t join any of these teams". But, I was lucky enough to get some people to join anyway. I am telling you, join before you create.

Anyway, creating a team isn’t easy. And making one while a newbie is not easy at all. A lot of newbie teams don’t know what to do, then disappear as fast as they are built. It has to be stable. You have to know your stuff! And your team has to stand out. What is your purpose? Why are you making a team. "Why join your NEW, unknown team, when I can join a better, more experienced team?" is what most people will think. And if your known to be new, you’ll likely only attract less skilled people. But if your lucky, a few more skilled people who are nice and want to help out your promising team.

You should make your team loo professional! Hmmm…what are your team colors. What!? You don’t have one? Well, its not that serious, but having a team color(s) won’t hurt. It can help you decide how to make your site. But like I was saying about professionalism, avoid big pictures, or an overuse of pictures. You want your site to be quick, and all that makes it slower. You don’t have to have music on every page, in fact, don’t. Maybe on your homepage, but that should be it.

You should also only use the smallest, yet most efficient formats. Like JEPG or GIF for pictures, and MIDI for sound. Always check the size of something before you upload it to your site, or even to the internet.

How to Join a Team

How to join a team. It is easier than making one, but still a some what difficult task. You have to impress and gather the public’s respect before joining a well off team.

First you have to have good skill. People will have to want you because you are some what useful to them. You have to be of use, and not just a person who plans on dropping soon because he doesn’t take the team seriously.

Second, you have to publish your work. Making a link in your signature works. Making a topic telling of your SCN isn’t to hot. Sometimes it can work, but asking for something from the croud that doesn’t know you or respect you is hard. In this case, you have to tell them how good you work is, and why they should download it. It should be unique, worth while, and remember to make a link to it in your post. Many people ask for there work to be tested, or downloaded, but they don’t display the link to it. Big mistake.

Third, after you are well known, and your work amazes people, then tell everyone in a post that your looking to join a team. You have to tell them how useful you can be. Be discriptive of yourself. And if you succeed, then people left and right will come to your topic and ask you to join, or refer you to a team who is hiring.

Helpful Hints

Do not do this:

• Don’t give up.
• Don’t go into something your know familiar with.
• Don’t ever disrespect Newbies. Everyone was a newbie at sometime. Plus, they are the new generation of chidren that can grow to become a very good player or designer. Discouraging them will cancle what may be a great future they have.
• Don’t gamble. Sometimes what you do, sticks with you.
• Don’t flood.
• Don’t change your name so often.
• Don’t send email to people that don’t know you.
• Don’t start a team if your new.
• Don’t start flame wars, finish them.
• Don’t give out your password or other personal information.

Do this:

• Do be respective of everyone.
• Do be creative
• Do be patient
• Do be faithful.
• Do be in contact with team members, and leader.
• Do be nice to officials, they run their site/game/etc for you.
• Do participate.

Useful Links

Please visit our site. And please always submit a comment.

Leader of Guild of Designers,

Outlaw BG

-ICQ 126934112

-MSN Messenger Outlaw BG

-ZONE Friends GoD_Outlaw_BG16

Our Topics

GoDCraft –Guild of Designers’ Web site

A Savior Named William Wallace DEMO2

Submit Comments to ASNWW-D2

Here-