Redshift Community

I have plans to make my own expansion, and I have the plot thought out, it just needs refining. Any help would be welcome, as I haven't really figured out the editor yet. I also have some major decisions to make that I want other peoples' opinions on. They are:

- should it be for high or low level characters?
- should I stick to the fantasy theme or add some steam punk elements (a combination of steam punk and fantasy)?

I really need other people's suggestions, as I see advantages and disadvantages to both options of both problems. And again, any help in any area is very welcome.

For the theme I would recommend sticking with classical fantasy but making the expansion's level NO HIGHER than 30. Since you asked for advice, I will give you a few key ideas:
1-Stick with the classical fantasy idea. Zarista has released some great expansions, but most have explored strange themes, although I don't know about any steampunk ones. Also, if you are new to the editor, I would stick with mostly premade graphics. There are enough there that you can still be creative and have an interesting map.
2- If you've ever played the "high level" expansions, you probably know that they are imbalanced. Magic is ineffective (although there have been claims that this has been fixed) and many would like to see addons where magic is effective, but not necessarily overpowered. The low levels are the best ones to do this at.
3- It is easier to design low-level expansions from my experience.
4- The Quest Editor can be VERY FRUSTRATING! It is incomplete and not too user friendly but just stick with it and you can have fun using it. If I have any more ideas or you have any more questions I will post here. Hope some of these were helpful.

wolf3167 wrote:For the theme I would recommend sticking with classical fantasy but making the expansion's level NO HIGHER than 30. Since you asked for advice, I will give you a few key ideas:
1-Stick with the classical fantasy idea. Zarista has released some great expansions, but most have explored strange themes, although I don't know about any steampunk ones. Also, if you are new to the editor, I would stick with mostly premade graphics. There are enough there that you can still be creative and have an interesting map.
2- If you've ever played the "high level" expansions, you probably know that they are imbalanced. Magic is ineffective (although there have been claims that this has been fixed) and many would like to see addons where magic is effective, but not necessarily overpowered. The low levels are the best ones to do this at.
3- It is easier to design low-level expansions from my experience.
4- The Quest Editor can be VERY FRUSTRATING! It is incomplete and not too user friendly but just stick with it and you can have fun using it. If I have any more ideas or you have any more questions I will post here. Hope some of these were helpful.

Thanks for the advice, I will definitely make it a low level expansion, but I'm still toying with the idea of a steampuk fantasy theme (with lots of clockwork as well). A major character could be a malfunctioning automaton given consciousness through magic that is kinda good and kinda evil....

Interesting...

Actually, it's going to be fantasy because I suck at texturing. Anyway, I need suggestions on the story. Here is what I have currently:
The island of Chimeria is on the verge of civil war. A group of separatists in the southeast of the island have sealed themselves in an impenetrable forcefield and are planning on magically moving their part of the island far away into the sea, and the only thing stopping them from doing so is their lack of magical power. Because of that, they have been trying to kidnap Chimeria's Grand Mage. The Potentate of Chimeria is too proud to accept help from Mersant, which is why you have been sent to Chimeria to take care of the problems. This has, however, created a tension between Mersant and the Potentate, which could escalate quickly into a war. But the trouble doesn't stop there, because the defeated army of a long forgotten war, although banished to another plane, have been rebuilding their forces, becoming stronger than before, waiting patiently for a weakness in the magic aura to appear so that they can create a rift to our plane and seek vengeance for their past defeat. Coincidentally, such a weakness of the aura could be created by the magical fallout of the movement of a large land mass, which is exactly what will happen if you fail.

It definitely needs to be written better, and it could use more polish. Please share your thoughts. I'm trying to make this a high-quality expansion so it can be released on the AppStore, so I really need as much advice as possible.

Sounds good. Another tip would be to make the map relatively small (others can tell you the ideal size). I also wanted to tell you that you should search the editor sub forum for help.

Yeah, it's 8x8, and I've spent awhile reading the topics in the editor part of the forum and learning from the main game in the editor.

Great! Hope you get permission to release it if it's ever finished!

Thanks, I'll name an npc after you

Try not to add to many side quests on the expansion because I can easily feel weighted down with to many things to do at one time.

Well, I'm definitely going to add a bunch of side quests. If you don't want too many things to do at once, just don't accept too many new quests until you've finished some of your current ones. But thanks for the input.

Also, progress:

I just remembered something that is quite annoying in some of the other expansions. The quest descriptions can be very vague at times. It would be nice to have more descriptive quest descriptions.

i would like to ask what devices are you planning to release this on if you get permission? And also would like to say: "Do not forget to add good weapons/armor". As in some expansions they make decent weapons/armor, but they make the enemies so "Over-powered" that it doesnt matter what weapons/armor you happen to have.

Cheers, CEZben

I'll release it on any devices I can if I get permission, however that's very far off. As for good gear, Im going to do my very best to make sure everything is very balanced, and when it's ready, you can beta test it and decide for yourself if the gear is good enough

I'm sorry if i come across as rude, but I'm just saying that because on "Lost Archipelogos" for example. When you start a pre-made game WITH their good armor, you can barely stand a chance against the first enemies of the game.

LA is a broken piece of crap to begin with in my opinion. It wasn't THAT hard, though. If you enchant all the free stuff you should be more than fine.

wolf3167 wrote:LA is a broken piece of crap to begin with in my opinion. It wasn't THAT hard, though. If you enchant all the free stuff you should be more than fine.

*goes to retry lost archipelagos

add people that can enchant things too a high level as well, to be paired with the good gear.

Well, if They can do enchants that are to good I might have to put some limitations on them. I want balance, not overpowered gear.

Yea, I don't mean it to a point of over poweredness, I meant it more as make the enchant level high enough to match the enchant level of the gear.

MORE PROGRESS (no real game stuffs though, just the map ) got the underground and poor parts of the city done, as well as the cemetery and quarry and forests.

Looks nice so far!

Thanks, and since then I've done the interior of the potentate's palace and i just started a dungeon in the red quarry.

Well, I finished my first npc, and it wasn't as hard as I expected, which is good. By the way, the npc is a dragon who plays cards in a dungeon.

pretty cool! Are you able to fight him (If you get him angry)