Dramatic Missions

[Uberminch]

Uhn. Yes, we see that war is boring, but we don't play ofp to watch our guy sit around and read books twelve hours straight. We play the game to fight and kill the enemy. :-\

[ntstlkr]

Cheers All,
Sorry Armstrong  ;D, my most humble apologies for misconstruing your point. Maybe what we are trying to get here is a fuller sense of a day in the life of a soldier at war. I'm, sure, it wouldn't be all that entertaining (since that is what the game is for) to develop a campaign where 80% of the time is spent on waiting around for something to happen (although if there was ever a way to express this sentiment in military life its "hurry up and wait").

Instead of just jumping right into the mission objectives, guns blazing, explosions going off, men screaming for their mommies...ok, you get the idea. Maybe expand it a little by including more of the mission preparation. Getting the squad together. Going over the oporder and drawing the equipment from the arms room. Maybe even (for all the civies out there   ) include the real process of putting a mission together i.e. conducting a leader's recon, doing a rehersal, etc.

So basically we have to find ways to give more depth to the mission. Not just a jump in and shoot'em up type thing (although there'll be plenty who like it that way just fine I'm sure and thats ok too).

NSDQ!!!

[alterego45]

  Well, I'm glad to read that there's interest in dramatic missions  .  I  like to make missions where the atmosphere is equal to the fighting.  Of course I understand the value of action as well.

  I read a bunch of complaints about in-mission cutscenes, and disdain for story, so I decided not to put my missions out there, but kept them for myself and a good friend.

  Now I'm thinking there might be a reason to toss 'em out there.

  I'm not a great mission designer by any stretch, but I'll get to cleaning up my missions to see if any of the 'drama-players' have fun with them.

  It is tough when you have a vision, but no scripting experience, or mission making experience (but that's where all the fun lies, isn't it?).  My last cutscene (the major one) nearly killed me.  But I think I'm ready to go at it again.

  I think I'll head on over to the ideas section and illicit some help from you able scripters to clean up and finish my 5 mission coop story.  It's about friendship, over coming loss, and consequences of actions taken.

  Thanks for the inspiration people!

[XCess]

It would be very easy to make a script toput you on guard duty but without the boredom. Yo could simply add an action that will allow you to skip an hour or until the enemy attacks. You could have people interrupting your rest before the battle to talk about something (maybe you could even script RPG style conversation), once they've finished speaking you have to press the skipTime button again for more rest. If an enemy comes your rest is also interrupted.
This means you don't have a tottally predicatable missions, you could even go to bed when you're relieved from your post and be woken up by an attack.

[General Barron]

Hello,  ntstlkr;

  While I'm no veteran like you, I do have a little experience with the military. I'm just a young E-3 in the Marine Corps Reserve. (Unfortunately, I haven't gotten the call to go help over in Iraq  :'( ) "Hurry up and wait" describes it to the bone. Half of each drill weekend seems to be spent just waiting around because there is so much friggin admin to do.
  What would a mission based on reality look like? Well,  I work in the armory, fixing rifles and stuff. 90% of the work there is paperwork. "Barron, fill out that ERO, quick! We need SL3 for those m16s!" Oh, the excitement!!! Oh, and the drama: "Staff Sergeant, I think we're going to need to deadline this weapon!" Watch as our heroes evac the weapon for heigher echelon maintainence!  
  All joking aside, video games aren't as much about mimicking reality as they are about mimicking movies. I think that is the best thing to keep in mind as you make missions: make it so that it plays like a movie. Of course, the difference between games and movies is that the player has some control over the action. It can be hard to really "script" (as in movie scripting, not ofp scripting) a mission when you don't know what the player is going to do. As far as I see it, the trick is to limit the control the player has over the situation as much as possible, while still making it appear as though he is in control.
  Like I said, just try to make it like a movie, with the player in the middle of it. That is the key to dramatic missions.  

[Captain Winters]

Well I'm Not trying to advertise or brag or anything here...

I developed a whole theory for my missions.  I dare you to goto www.freewebs.cpm/sprpcg and check out what I do before I even get on the computer. I select WHICH music I will use, and I actually write a script, one where you're accostumed to the men you fight with. If any of you's tested my Ground Attack IV you would have seen the last level that ended my Steel Skies campaign. I don't want to brag but that campaign played out like a movie. You watched 20 minute cinematics before you even did anything. My friends loved it, a couple even bought OFP JUST to play that campaign. So if you're looking for out of the ordinary missions with a background story, made with heart and mind considered, the is definatly the site for you: www.global3dwar.com. That's where I host my missions along with www.freewebs.cpm/sprpcg (a sub-site of G3DW). I guareentee these are the sorts of missions you's are talking about!

Tanks!