Campaign Production Procedure
Assembling 40 map campaigns is a complex process requiring the combined effort &
co-operation of several people working together closely to achieve a quality
result.
The team responsible for
producing this campaign are Weapon X, Seekre, Patusco, Bearpit, Blast. Plus
several other persons are indirectly involved providing technical support &
assistance in the background notably Toxic, Lurkan, Shanga.
Regretably Snake had to leave the team temporarily as he had been offered a new job in another city making it necessary for him to move house just as we were starting production.
What
Really Happen's
1. A campaign's overall
concept is decided on. Example: rescue someone, assasinate someone, destroy something,
capture something or combinations of these.
2. The number of maps to
be created plus a detailed plan of roads, cities, rivers etc is created.
3. Game clues, maps,
support documents, pictures, technical files etc are created as the campaign
assembly process unfolds.
4. The maps themselves are
created by individuals or sometimes the practice has become to have a
collaboration of 2 or 3 people work on a single map,
then the completed map containing scenery & buildings only is sent to
a team member who installs enemies , items, triggers, game clues etc.
5. The maps are combined
in batches comprising a third of the campaign. Eg 3 batches in this case being
17, 15, 9 maps becoming Part1, Part2, Part3
for playtesting.
6. After playtesting
comments are posted for each map our stalwart MR FIXIT Seekre cleans up the
errors & places the completed map in a ready folder.
7. Eventually all 40 maps
are individually completed then combined into a zip along with the Itmdsc25 file
& HTML support documents. Patusco assembles this jungle of various files into
a comprehensible readme which becomes your point of contact with the game.
8. Generally speaking the
chairman acts as a producer co-ordinating these efforts as well as taking part
in other aspects such as map making or picture & readme file creation.
9. The team uses the
UBCampaigns site as a storage area & workshop though many map files are
transferred privately through e-mail to other members during the creation
process.
10.
Patusco then assembles the
entire collection into a single zip & loads it into File Planet for linking
through his own site Patusco's Jagged Alliance
Corner, Bears Pit
Forum, UB Campaigns plus Jagged Alliance
Galaxy.
That's how a campaign comes to life. How long
does this take? About 8-10 weeks for a 40-50 map campaign depending on how many
scenery sectors are included. Some of the dense city maps are 8-12 hours work
each whilst a scenery map can usually be made in an hour.