Staredit Network

I think it is a common problem, some people choose to name people using latin and such and then use latin to name them describing a feature about them, or in fact use another language, or the language of the play or piece choosen for effect.

Yet if it is realistic, then using nicknames seems correct, even if those names are just a short version of their first name, last name or what they look like, it can work. However don't be stupid and name a cook "Slasher" it just looks bad!

Make their names sorta linked to their personalities.
Don't have any examples in mind though.

Something like if the guy has a spanish accent give him a spanish name or if the guy is crazy give him a name that will say: "Hey, I'm crazy!".

Thats a way to go with it.

Hey Bolt, What is the golden rule of mapmaking? Also, if your looking for names either find one of those books like "10,000 names for your baby" or a similar website, and just browse through until you find what your looking for. I did that once and it really helped.

EDIT: I went to Babynames.com and found all this in one minute or so:

Ohanzee, Freja, Adhar, Delu, Saxon, Siyamak, Sybil, Yachi, Isoke

Also that site has name meanings, and regional origins, as well as potential nicknames. For example, Ohanzee meant shadow I believe.

Freja is a Norse god, Saxon is the name of a Germanic tribe that moved to England and are now the norm of the population, if your family was in england 1500 years ago. Thats about it for me.

For Darkened I only named people's last names, the way I do this is I like random choose a letter... let's say... K, hmm, that's a hard one... Kir... Kur... Korine... no, that's no good... hmm... I would usually just go into a pattern like that until I found something in my head I liked.

I think you should name it all after the name of some Red Indian Tribe, and look on the web for a family tree and use all those names!

Well back to what im doing now, I have been doing the terrain thus far and now I think im going to have to redesign a hugh part of it. I made the map 256x256 and i don't think it needs to be that big.

it doesnt have too... awww most come on make it THAT big so we can explore more of ur map... ALSO i have an idea for u. u no how to cloak almost any unit, well duh ya do mabey u shuld make a libray with cloaked drones/scv/drone carring a disk but make them cloaked... i dunno if the disk gets cloaked also but u shuld give it a try also aint 7 buildings a SMALL town... more like a truck stop or something to me

Well, looking at the pics of Bolt's buildings, they seem rather large...

I don't have to create 1000 buildings to give the illusion of a large town. There are several roads that are blocked, the rest of the town could very well be past the roads.

There will be alot to explore however, keep in mind that things are randomized. So I have to basicly design each building, each room 2-5 times. Not the terrain but the features like the furnature (buildings) in those rooms. The objects and story about each room.

I just now got my map converted over. I afraid i might have to redo all my sprites cause I don't know how SCMIE handles loading sprites into a differantly sized map. That will suck.

I had to do alot to convert it. I converted a 256x256 map to a 192x256 map. SCM Draft 2 has the ablity to resize maps, but according to suicidal it doesn't delete things like your locations and units in the part that it takes away. So first i used Starforges advanced grid features to draw grid the size of my map and deleted all the units and locations outside of that boundry. Then i converted the map and saved as a new name. Lastly i was able to take some of the intrior building designs and move them using Starforges custom brush when toggleing between the two maps.

Well here is what the terrian looks like so far. I'm still perfecting it and i have some empty space to work with still. (it looks alot better with this map size)

Looks almost full.

At that empty space at the right there can be a junkyard or somesort of creepy outdoor stuff.

Beautiful terrain, Bolt. I wish I could make terrain like that.

Edit: How about sticking a graveyard in there? Or is it too cliché?

Im planning on using the space for a few more building rooms, proboly menu / item selection area.

I can't use a graveyard or junkyard because the players are restricted to the town area, they can't just walk out. I'm thinking of haveing a little underground area thing like a underground temple.

Random gameplay = teh win. Nice to try something most people have yet to discover bolt... Although the storyline sounds too much "been there done that" type of a thing... X people have a Y reason that their Z (transport) has crashed in "scary town". Sounds just like ghost town, baals damn map, etc... Something a bit more original perhaps...

I just had an idea for you if your not already set with the story...

Possibly the different randomized storys are all from a different viewpoint or at a different time, ect. Like story one would be from the view of someone who lives in the town or something, story two could be in the aftermath or something... they come into the town that seems deserted and see the... crazy-ness then find they can't leave... or something.

Im trying to make a map not right a book. It is important for the story to be indepth but it must be simple so that it can be understood quickly without much reading.

Maybe its just personal preferance or maybe it is my lack of writing skills.

I agree. No one wants to read pages of text - they want action. Though it couldn't hurt to have the story change every time you play, either. Maybe have four variables that can be changed during the beginning that could make the map play out slightly differently. You know, depending on which building you enter first, or how long it took you to get to a certain point, or whatever. It could be creepy.

Im going to have several events randomized from the start. Like one game a building where you would start out in will start out locked and you have to find a key for it or some crap like that. I want the thing to be so full of random things / objective changers that you won't reconize the game the second time around.

Maybe if you wanted to go the whole way, have a selection point for players to choose if they want it random and storyline based, or set system which is for gameplay and teamplay.

The first would be for messing around on and doing you best without knowing everything, while the second would be harder, but predicted to some points, and maybe only a slight randomisation occurance now and then.

Or you could make it so if you completed one of the completely random storylines it would tell you how to activate the difficult mode (maybe by having 3 players stand in specific spots for 10 seconds)

After you've completed one of these things? That would make it a very long game...And then you would have to have resets on certain parts, and make sure that after use you can still use it again, so that it works.

I don't intend to make a set system as you call it. I think that defeats the whole purpose. Having the story and events randomized and deeply reflect your actions could be a very strong and uniqe type of map. If you don't like having the things randomized, don't play.

If you think about it i could be updateing this map forever. Even once i compleatly finish it i could still add a whole new storyline and set of random events. For codes like you said or just simply new things to explore.

I intend to do alot of neat things. Like for example not all the rooms will be used on each building. In one game you may NEVER be able to go into a specific room but in the next you may enter the room that was restricted in the last and find it plays a key roll.

Of course all this is just a wish list until i compleat it but its nice to shoot high.

It's a lot of work to make things dynamic like that, so I'd consider it wise to decide if it's really worth it. Sure, people can appreciate little touches that show attention to detail or that create the illusion of 'real', but at some point people seem to ignore it all or only look for the things they are interested in or else know how to appreciate. You already stated you're not making this for the masses, but just consider that many of the things that make the more popular maps successful are universal in nature.

An example would be my A&O trailer versus, say, Cannon Balls or Trigger Happy Defense. As is blatantly obvious by now, my trailer is probably more popular than I really think it should have been (happy about that, though), whereas my earlier maps such as Cannon Balls and THD, which cost my MUCH more time and effort to make don't even measure as a blip on the radar in comparison. It's all about effect. It's all about the cheese. That's just the way it ends up being, whether you like it or not.