My thoughts on Custom Stories

[nemesis567]

"What ive seen so far is that people focus on scares when it comes to their Custom Story; Random naked person spawns out of nowhere in a clauset you recently opened (no gay jokes intended), monster spawns right behind you on the loot of a key, ive seen the lot, and its mildly dissapointing."

This is why I no longer play Amnesia's modifications. Most are just bland, non-emmersive abstract creations.

[Mine Turtle]

My story starts off with the player not knowing anything about where they are, but it, like plenty of other custom stories, takes its own path thereon and builds up from there. That's pretty much the best way to start a scary game off. Lots of horror genre games start off like that, by the way; giving the player little or no information about who they are or where they are. It just makes the game all mysterious and raises the fear factor of things. I do agree with you, however, when you say monsters are always introduced quickly in custom stories. It is good in some cases, but not in most IMO.

*quick note*

Just letting you know, a LOT of stuff you wrote about is all opinion-based, so try not to state it all as if it's a list of facts

like i said, its ok, but make sure you explain where he was and how he got there. give the story some closure, if ya'd like ^^


*quick note*

title reads ''My thoughts on custom stories'' ^^

i think alot of the stuff here is not so opinionbased. most of what ive written is kind of true.

[Khyrpa]

My story starts off with the player not knowing anything about where they are, but it, like plenty of other custom stories, takes its own path thereon and builds up from there. That's pretty much the best way to start a scary game off. Lots of horror genre games start off like that, by the way; giving the player little or no information about who they are or where they are. It just makes the game all mysterious and raises the fear factor of things. I do agree with you, however, when you say monsters are always introduced quickly in custom stories. It is good in some cases, but not in most IMO.

I'll just put this here
http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/amn...-structure

[Statyk]

Dark, I highly agree... So far, I have played maybe 10-15 campaigns and whenever I had played one that seemed fishy upon reading the description, I would find myself catching un-matching environments, clipping errors, no/very little story, same predictable "scares" that frankly, do not scare me... Like naked guys, monsters on key pick-up, the such. Much so, I would quit the campaign half-way through because I lost interest. This accounts for about 3-4... Too many in my opinion.

Then yes flamez3, I'm sorry. I AM NOT HATING ON PEWDIE WHEN I SAY THIS, PLEASE KEEP THAT IN MIND. I find WAY too many stories with golden statues in the most unrealistic spots and usually pointed out specifically for the player to see... On a mantle, it's fine. The top of a desk, it's fine... But in the sewers, a drawer, the center of the floor, enlarged, many in one map, etc. I can no longer believe that the story was taken seriously and I am brought back to reality, broken of immersion, and am no longer afraid, but in a blank state, no longer able to be fearful of Amnesia for the time being. I'm tired of people going out of the story's way to place a golden statue or oddly placed suit of armor. I don't hate PewDie WHATSOEVER. He's a funny guy. But what I am getting tired of seeing is this plead of the creators to have PD play their maps in hopes it will give them recognition or some kind of gratitude. This is my opinion, I am just getting tired of taking my time out of the day to download a story that was clumped into a dirty snowball, when I could download a well-formed snowman. (metaphorically speaking...)

I feel Bendik's pain and I am his friend, as well as fellow creator. As well, I do not care about how many people know PewDie or how many subscribers he has. He could have everyone on this forum and I would not think any different of the situation in my hands.

I love to see great stories with time and detail spent on it, which is why I do the same for mine. I get down to the thousandth of a decimal if needed to stop a clipping issue or match a primitive. You can see this in any of my stories. It's not hard to be specific, you just need to have the devotion of your story to provide it. And sadly... I am not seeing enough devotion. Perhaps watch the link Khyrpa has posted. I watched and it is indeed what is needed greatly.

/Endrant.

[Mine Turtle]

Dark, I highly agree... So far, I have played maybe 10-15 campaigns and whenever I had played one that seemed fishy upon reading the description, I would find myself catching un-matching environments, clipping errors, no/very little story, same predictable "scares" that frankly, do not scare me... Like naked guys, monsters on key pick-up, the such. Much so, I would quit the campaign half-way through because I lost interest. This accounts for about 3-4... Too many in my opinion.

Then yes flamez3, I'm sorry. I AM NOT HATING ON PEWDIE WHEN I SAY THIS, PLEASE KEEP THAT IN MIND. I find WAY too many stories with golden statues in the most unrealistic spots and usually pointed out specifically for the player to see... On a mantle, it's fine. The top of a desk, it's fine... But in the sewers, a drawer, the center of the floor, enlarged, many in one map, etc. I can no longer believe that the story was taken seriously and I am brought back to reality, broken of immersion, and am no longer afraid, but in a blank state, no longer able to be fearful of Amnesia for the time being. I'm tired of people going out of the story's way to place a golden statue or oddly placed suit of armor. I don't hate PewDie WHATSOEVER. He's a funny guy. But what I am getting tired of seeing is this plead of the creators to have PD play their maps in hopes it will give them recognition or some kind of gratitude. This is my opinion, I am just getting tired of taking my time out of the day to download a story that was clumped into a dirty snowball, when I could download a well-formed snowman. (metaphorically speaking...)

I feel Bendik's pain and I am his friend, as well as fellow creator. As well, I do not care about how many people know PewDie or how many subscribers he has. He could have everyone on this forum and I would not think any different of the situation in my hands.

I love to see great stories with time and detail spent on it, which is why I do the same for mine. I get down to the thousandth of a decimal if needed to stop a clipping issue or match a primitive. You can see this in any of my stories. It's not hard to be specific, you just need to have the devotion of your story to provide it. And sadly... I am not seeing enough devotion. Perhaps watch the link Khyrpa has posted. I watched and it is indeed what is needed greatly.

/Endrant.

if i could rep someone twice, i would ^^

[ZyLogicX]

I dont think it's wrong at all to include PewDiePie in this thread. PewDiePie made himself... I was a subscriber before the bandwagon came along... and before that he was really serious. The problem however comes indirectly from PewDiePie. Yes, FlameZ3, PewDiePie never asked for these maps that were dedicated to him and where he was unaware of. But I think it's still fair to say that custom story developers still like to see their story being played by a well-known YouTuber, and if that means that they have to develope rushed, unserious custom stories... I think that explains the whole fiasco...

The fact of the matter that PewDiePie has an account on this forum... but is never active and posts a thread like: "Great opportunity for custom story developers." also stimulates people to get work out for him... because in the human-mind it is: "If I will be the first to make a custom story for him... maybe he will contact me regularly and I can continue working for him."

It's sad but true... I do agree with darkadders and I also think that it is perfectly normal to include a certain YouTuber, whether or not he is well-known or not... That is like a dictatorship, if you can't mention your view of the situation... you get killed.

[Khyrpa]

Some folks still enjoy seeing jump scares à la flying naked bodies, we can't deny that. The others who have played more might require more from the custom stories that they play. The ones who feel like they need better quality to enjoy, just have to relax and find the things they seek. It may require waiting for that one rare custom story that has had the deep devotion of a mad man working for a hobby. While waiting, you can enjoy the feeling of: "those low experienced people don't have as good taste as me".
You can quite clearly see the "serious factor" of a custom story from the release page and make assumptions if you might like it or not.

Do you think everyone has eye for pretty things/aesthetics, does everyone have patience to learn and master scripting, can everyone stick to developing their story after the first glorious days of creation have passed and the level editing starts to feel boring? Can every modder have enough devotion to go through extensive polishing and testing phase? Should we push everyone to go down to the thousandth of a decimal to stop clipping issues?

Mapping was really enjoyable as I started out, it was challenging, I learned a ton every time I booted up the editor and the sheer joy of creation kept me doing it.
Now when I have released a few stories and have been doing this for a while, mapping feels like work. I can easily say I do not enjoy it like I used to. Even though there is still a lot to learn, it is the same tweaking, fixing, testing and setting pieces together properly. Now what keeps me pushing forward is the joy of seeing people enjoy and appreciate the work done + to grow e-peen and to get recognition. But to get to that point, one must go through a ton of work and discipline.
When you are creating something, you start to feel like you are not doing a good job enough or you just want to release it already. That is something that explains the early beta releases (The Electric Castle), abandoned projects (The Electric Castle)(getting bored might be bigger one for these though) and stories that haven't gone through serious testing phase (The Electric Castle).

Suffer the pain of discipline
or suffer the pain of regret

As for those who have the dedication and willingness to create deep immersive stories, but lack the knowledge or experience to do such, I might try to provide a few tips for the mapping department since I'm a very visual person, that's where I spend most of my development time. These things might be obvious for some, but either most mappers don't know how to do this stuff or are too lazy to do it, I hope its not the latter.

Frictional games has made every tool, model, particle effect and sound for this game. If you are using the stock stuff to build your story with, look at how TDD maps were done. They are very detailed and have used all of the available content to good effect.
For example if you are making a cellar map, while you are mapping, open up a second level editor and open TDD map that uses the same cellar set and compare your map to their one. If you make your map with similar amount of detail, you are doing it as well as you can (if you can't model new stuff).
This does require a lot more work of course than setting up the layout of the maps with just walls and ceiling, giving the player a lantern for lighting and calling it a day.

Pay attention to everything you put around your map. If you place a fog particle, take the time to check how far it should fade in/out, what alpha/color values fit best and check where it glitches inside walls by testing and observing inside the game.

Your knowledge of the models, decals, particles and everything increases as you create more with the editor. When you know where is and what is, you become faster and you have easier time polishing your maps.

If you have an empty spot on a room, cover it with something. If you can't figure out anything to cover it with, decrease the size of the room or think of other cool ways to fix it.

static_objects/decals/dirt_floor_1to3 and moist_wall_1to3 are your friends with low amount of triangles opposed to decal ones. If however you want to cover up round areas, use the decal tool.

Put yourself on the shoes of the player, walk around your map. The only way to release a serious story with clipping issues is without enough testing.
If you haven't gotten bored to hell about your map and don't hate it, you haven't tested it enough.

There is nothing that could prevent you from creating as well made story as Amnesia the dark descent with the very same tools they used. Being willing to use the necessary time to plan, create and polish is up to you.

If you can stick with a project and polish it up, I will salute you, that's a really hard thing to do.
I'm tired... Time to get some sleep.

And btw I find pewdiepie hate retarded... Hate the fanbase, not the man.

[Mine Turtle]

Some folks still enjoy seeing jump scares à la flying naked bodies, we can't deny that. The others who have played more might require more from the custom stories that they play. The ones who feel like they need better quality to enjoy, just have to relax and find the things they seek. It may require waiting for that one rare custom story that has had the deep devotion of a mad man working for a hobby. While waiting, you can enjoy the feeling of: "those low experienced people don't have as good taste as me".
You can quite clearly see the "serious factor" of a custom story from the release page and make assumptions if you might like it or not.

Do you think everyone has eye for pretty things/aesthetics, does everyone have patience to learn and master scripting, can everyone stick to developing their story after the first glorious days of creation have passed and the level editing starts to feel boring? Can every modder have enough devotion to go through extensive polishing and testing phase? Should we push everyone to go down to the thousandth of a decimal to stop clipping issues?

Mapping was really enjoyable as I started out, it was challenging, I learned a ton every time I booted up the editor and the sheer joy of creation kept me doing it.
Now when I have released a few stories and have been doing this for a while, mapping feels like work. I can easily say I do not enjoy it like I used to. Even though there is still a lot to learn, it is the same tweaking, fixing, testing and setting pieces together properly. Now what keeps me pushing forward is the joy of seeing people enjoy and appreciate the work done + to grow e-peen and to get recognition. But to get to that point, one must go through a ton of work and discipline.
When you are creating something, you start to feel like you are not doing a good job enough or you just want to release it already. That is something that explains the early beta releases (The Electric Castle), abandoned projects (The Electric Castle)(getting bored might be bigger one for these though) and stories that haven't gone through serious testing phase (The Electric Castle).

Suffer the pain of discipline
or suffer the pain of regret

As for those who have the dedication and willingness to create deep immersive stories, but lack the knowledge or experience to do such, I might try to provide a few tips for the mapping department since I'm a very visual person, that's where I spend most of my development time. These things might be obvious for some, but either most mappers don't know how to do this stuff or are too lazy to do it, I hope its not the latter.

Frictional games has made every tool, model, particle effect and sound for this game. If you are using the stock stuff to build your story with, look at how TDD maps were done. They are very detailed and have used all of the available content to good effect.
For example if you are making a cellar map, while you are mapping, open up a second level editor and open TDD map that uses the same cellar set and compare your map to their one. If you make your map with similar amount of detail, you are doing it as well as you can (if you can't model new stuff).
This does require a lot more work of course than setting up the layout of the maps with just walls and ceiling, giving the player a lantern for lighting and calling it a day.

Pay attention to everything you put around your map. If you place a fog particle, take the time to check how far it should fade in/out, what alpha/color values fit best and check where it glitches inside walls by testing and observing inside the game.

Your knowledge of the models, decals, particles and everything increases as you create more with the editor. When you know where is and what is, you become faster and you have easier time polishing your maps.

If you have an empty spot on a room, cover it with something. If you can't figure out anything to cover it with, decrease the size of the room or think of other cool ways to fix it.

static_objects/decals/dirt_floor_1to3 and moist_wall_1to3 are your friends with low amount of triangles opposed to decal ones. If however you want to cover up round areas, use the decal tool.

Put yourself on the shoes of the player, walk around your map. The only way to release a serious story with clipping issues is without enough testing.
If you haven't gotten bored to hell about your map and don't hate it, you haven't tested it enough.

There is nothing that could prevent you from creating as well made story as Amnesia the dark descent with the very same tools they used. Being willing to use the necessary time to plan, create and polish is up to you.

If you can stick with a project and polish it up, I will salute you, that's a really hard thing to do.
I'm tired... Time to get some sleep.

And btw I find pewdiepie hate retarded... Hate the fanbase, not the man.

youre basicly stating some points inside my mapping detail part. i guess its for the better, but i thought it was clear that good mapping included all these points. atleast now, beginners have some extra ''in with a teaspoon'' explanation . thanks ^^

[Kman]

Hahah, i laugh at your anti-pewdiepie stuff, get a life.

Is that really all you can get out of this post?

[flamez3]

I am already aware of how this forum acts against Pew, unfortunately this forum is completely biased and base their judgement of PewDiePie over the Custom stories his fans make for him. Your just going to have to learn to live with it. As I said in my other reply, they are going to continue, and most likely grow from the number here substantially.

And Khyrpa: You hate all of his community?