Foundations of mission making

Introduction to mission making

So you've taken the leap and want to make missions, but where do you start ❓
At a glance mission making can seem complex and confusing with alot of working parts in-game and out-of-game, but that's why with these guides we'll aim to get you started on the long path which is mission making.

Tools

We highly recommend using a code editor like Notepad++ or Visual Studio. It will help you spot errors in your code by using syntax highlighting. You can download a plugin for Notepad++ that is specifically made for ArmA 3 code here. As an alternative you can also use Atom, it also has a plugin for SQF syntax highlighting with snippets and a linter.

You can also find a guide on how to setup linter for Atom here

Conceptualizing

Creating a concept

So before you even begin to work on a mission, it's best to have some kind of concept in mind. This will allow you to follow a practice through your mission design so it stays consistent throughout. When creating a mission concept there's many many factors to take into consideration, all of which are important for a good concept, some of the things to think of would be:

1. Is it a COOP, COTVT, TVT, or a LOL mission.
2. What is the upper, middle, and lower player count limits for your mission.
3. What factions/nations and era/time is the mission set in.
4. What is the scenario of the mission.
5. How to balance missions or parts of a mission so its "fair"
6. How long on average and the upper time limit of the mission.
7. How complex each objectives is and the length of individual objectives.
8. How close to realism have you gone? You need to find the balance between a game and real life.
9. What assets are available to the players, such as vehicles, weapons, fire support, etc.
10. Performance and optimization.
11. Is the mission overall fun - As that's the ultimate goal.

A good concept is subjective.
Each person, whether they be a mission maker or not will have their own opioion on what is a "good" concept. You can't please everyone... So as a mission makers, it's about finding that sweet middle ground where things are fair, balanced, realistic, make sense, and is fun.
One thing a mission maker should do is always listen to feedback of any degree.

Reviewing a concept

As a mission makers, there is always room for improvement.
You should be constantly scrutinising your own work, trying to find flaws in your own concept/mission, seeing how it could be picked apart by a users, how parts could be abused and/or game'd.
Throughout your time building the mission, always subject your content to change, never set everything in stone from the start, and be ready to take your concept back to the drawing board if problems arise.

NEXT PAGE ▶️ - STARTING A MISSION PT1