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All about writing for Wildermyth!
All about writing for Wildermyth!


=Lore=
==Lore==
==The Yondering Lands==
===The Yondering Lands===
The world goes through cycles. Civilizations rise and fall, and threats to humanity wax and wane. Building ruins, powerful artifacts, the memories of great deeds all fade into myth or are lost to memory and are rediscovered time and again. The history of the lands are repeated patterns that are still never quite the same.


The Yondering Lands are sortof vaguely American. Or at least, if you have a choice between American and European, lean American. This applies mainly to flora and fauna, but also to little things like, we don't talk a lot about nobility, kings and queens, and we don't use a lot of the strongly-flavored medieval-fantasy words. No British accents or isms, unless it's a particularly foreign character. (People have been known to fall into the lands from time to time from other places, so.) But then also, we don't quite do banjos and cowboy hats. Guitars are maybe right on the edge. Fiddles are probably cool, right? I don't know.
[[File:YonderingLands.jpg|600px]]


==Monsters!==
The world goes through [[loops|cycles]]. Civilizations rise and fall, and threats to humanity wax and wane. Building ruins, powerful artifacts, the memories of great deeds all fade into myth or are lost to memory and are rediscovered time and again. The history of the lands are repeated patterns that are still never quite the same.
[[Deepist]]s are a cult that likes rocks, minotaurs, and fungi. Read some in-fiction lore [[Deepist Lore|here]].


[[Drauven]] are lizardy folks who like dragons. Read some in-ficiton lore [[Drauven Lore|here]].
[[The Yondering Lands]] are sortof vaguely American. Or at least, if you have a choice between American and European, lean American. This applies mainly to flora and fauna, but also to little things like, we don't talk a lot about nobility, kings and queens, and we don't use a lot of the strongly-flavored medieval-fantasy words. No British accents or isms, unless it's a particularly foreign character. (People have been known to fall into the lands from time to time from other places, so.) But then also, we don't quite do banjos and cowboy hats. Guitars are maybe right on the edge. Fiddles are probably cool, right? I don't know.


[[Gorgon]]s are corrupted tentacular beasties. Read some in-fiction lore [[Gorgon Lore|here]].
===Monsters!===


[[Morthagi]] are clockwork undead. Read some in-fiction lore [[Morthagi lore|here]].
[[File:MonsterBanner_deepist.jpg|600px]]


[[Thrixl]]s are dreamlike and insectiod. Read some in-fiction lore [[Thrixl lore|here]].
[[Deepist]]s are a minotaur-worshiping cult who live in cave systems. They put stone and fungi to creative use, and our heroes aren't sure whether their power comes from their own passion, or from something more sinister... Read some in-fiction lore [[Deepist Lore|here]].


All monsters are indeed monstrous. There may be shades of gray, but in aggregate monstrous life is incompatible with human life. Humans fight monsters to survive.
[[File:MonsterBanner_drauven.jpg|600px]]


There are no demi-humanish creatures in the Yondering Lands: no elves, dwarves, orcs, or their kin. But I mean, we COULD have some badger-people or some other weird stuff. I mean, Drauven are kinof on the line, aren't they? But certainly none of the "stock fantasy races."
[[Drauven]] are grouchy lizard-folk who primarily live in the trees of forests and swamps, or in trees within swamps, but are happy to descend to the ground to go raid a village and maybe snack on a villager. They decorate themselves and their environment with bird and dragon-like motifs. Read some in-ficiton lore [[Drauven Lore|here]].


==Magic!==
[[File:MonsterBanner_gorgon.jpg|600px]]
Human magic is performed by [[mystic]]s who [[interfuse]] with objects to manipulate them.


But also, some [[monster]]s can perform magic and/or ARE magic.
[[Gorgon]]s have been corrupting the local wildlife and turn them into raging tentacular monsters. They seem to be doing this experimentally, in pursuit of some deeper truth, but to call them "scientists" would tarnish the word. In the meantime, they continue to create the beasts as quickly as we can slaughter them. Read some in-fiction lore [[Gorgon Lore|here]].


==Equipment!==
[[File:MonsterBanner_morthagi.jpg|600px]]
There's lots of equipment in the game. Generally procedurally generated, but its history grows over time. Every piece of equipment has a description, some narrative insight that follows some [[Equipment Descriptions|general rules]].


=Tools=
[[Morthagi]] are clockwork undead, created from bone and metal long ago to serve some dark master. Their creator may be long gone, but the Morthagi themselves have persisted, clanking and hissing in the dusty, forgotten corners of the world. Read some in-fiction lore [[Morthagi lore|here]].
==Set up your work space==
How to use [[Source Control]], how to run [[Scratchpad]], how to submit files.


==How The Game Works==
[[File:MonsterBanner_thrixl.jpg|600px]]
===Heroes===
[[Hero]]es are generated with [[History]], which drives [[Aspects]], which drive [[Stats]].


===Effects===
[[Thrixl]] are dreamlike insect-dragons. Their powers are more subtle than those of a Drauv, but more frightening. They prefer to attack minds and souls directly. Read some in-fiction lore [[Thrixl lore|here]].
Effects use a system of targets and outcomes....


All monsters are indeed monstrous. There may be shades of gray, but in aggregate monstrous life is incompatible with human life. Humans fight monsters to survive.


==Using The Editors==
There are no demi-humanish creatures in the Yondering Lands: no elves, dwarves, orcs, or their kin. But I mean, we COULD have some badger-people or some other weird stuff. I mean, Drauven are kindof on the line, aren't they? But certainly none of the "stock fantasy races."
* Setting up new events
* Codestuff
* The comic-writing  tool
* tags and targets
* plain text please


===Making Panels===
===Magic!===
 
Human magic is performed by [[mystic]]s who [[interfuse]] with objects to manipulate them.
Use '''<panel>''' tags to separate text into panels. It's pretty easy to specify panel sizes and add actors with facial expressions and basic functionality.
<pre><panel>Use panel tags to separate text.
<panel|bookish>if there's an actor, they will speak the line.
<panel|poet thinking>Or maybe you want them to think it instead.
<panel|goofball joke>Or make a funny face!
<panel sixth left|bookish grim size:1.75>
<panel half left|snark sad >Nobody actually likes your face.</pre>


[[File:ComicTool example1.png]]
But also, some [[monster]]s can perform magic and/or ARE magic.


Everything about a panel is stored as text, in the panel tag. These examples show how to use [[panel styles]] (left, sixth, half), how to add actors ( |rolename ), and how to add [[actor styles]] (thinking, joke, grim). Panel styles are convenient for quickly making panels, but panel tags can get cumbersome fast. Good thing is, we have a visual editor so you don't need to edit all this stuff by hand.  
===Equipment!===
There's lots of [[equipment]] in the game. Generally procedurally generated, but its history grows over time. Every piece of equipment has a description, some narrative insight that follows some [[Equipment Descriptions|general rules]].


To open up the panel editor, click on a panel in the Comic Editor display. You can use the visual [[panel editor]] to do almost everything, including adding actors, setting their facial expressions, really everything except creating new panels and modifying the text that goes in them.
TODO - The equipment design is in pretty heavy flux right now.


:''Protip: Panel tags can be copied and pasted around as a quick way to duplicate a scene.''
==How the Game Works==
===Using Tags to Control Text===
This is a quick overview of how the game functions. It's good to have a handle on this so you know what you can do.
===Heroes===
[[Hero]]es are generated with [[History]], which drives [[Aspect]]s, which drive [[Stat]]s.


Each event can specify a number of targets, which are often heroes, selected for a particular personality, relationship, etc.. These targets are assigned to [[Story Role|roles]]. Roles are easy-to-remember words like ''leader'', ''target'', ''hero'', ''hothead'', ''friend'', etc..
Hero History is generated as three lines, an Origin, and Anecdote, and a Motivation. These affect prime stats and personality stats, and also seed Hooks.


Once you have a target assigned to the role, you can insert the target into your text using a ''role tag'' like this.
History lines leave behind a number of [[Hook]]s (usually 3 per hero), which are more specific character aspects and often take the form of a personality flaw or quirk. Hooks are great things to hang quests off of! They're also useful for letting a hero have a moment of badassery or weakness that's totally in theme for them. You can call out hooks when adding story roles, if you want to tell a whole story that hinges on one, or if you want to call out an optional character to provide an alternative path, that sort of thing.


<pre><panel twoThirds |leader narrating|hothead pained>
[[Aspect]]s are just facts about the hero. Stuff like "human", "female", "attractedToMen", "hunter", "missingLeftArm". Aspects can carry stat modifiers and [[Effect]]s. Aspects are the workhorse of the dynamic content in the game, almost everything you need to know about a hero, site, anything really, can be accessed as an aspect (other than stat values). (History lines cannot be queried, but can apply aspects, which can be queried.) Hooks are just aspects with a special naming convention and some extra tooling around them.
<leader> takes a long, appraising look at <hothead>.  
<leader.mf:He/She> wipes a fleck of bluish ooze off <leader.mf:his/her> nose.</pre>
[[File:ComicEditor simpleTags1.png]]


This is a simple example but we can get a lot more sophisticated, and tags can be nested as well. That can get really confusing. Maybe we should build some better tools?
[[Stat]]s are divided into Prime and Secondary, and into Gameplay and Personality. You can use any of the stats when selecting targets and determining difficulty rolls for events. Some stats have different natural ranges, which is a bit awkward, but that's where we're at right now. Personality stats are a great way to make characters come alive.


One of the key uses of tags is to give heroes different lines depending on their personalities. This works by embedding the stats you care about in the tag.
[[File:Wildermyth Content.png|600px]]
<pre><panel |leader talking>
<leader.goofball/bookish:
Surprise everyone! It's fightin' time!
/Ahem. Our foes appear to have arrived.></pre>
[[File:ComicEditor personalityTags.png]]


You can embed tags within tags. The most common use case will be putting gender tags inside personality tags. But you can go further if you want to. You can even use tags to select whole panels, like this:
===Overland Map===
<pre><bookish.poet/snark:
See: [[Campaign]]
  <panel|bookish joy>
  This will make an excellent song!
/
  <panel|bookish skeptical>
  What is it about me that attracts trouble? Is it my hair?
></pre>
[[File:ComicEditorPersonalityTagsPanels.png]]


This can get out of hand very quickly, but might be useful for reaction panels, or whatever? I don't know. Be careful out there.
The overland map is randomly generated, and fits together like board game tiles. In between tiles, mountain ranges and rivers create barriers that restrict travel. Players explore one tile at a time, scouting the tile, fighting any lurking threats, and then defending and improving the tile over time.


Tags can do a lot more! For a full list of available tags see : [[Tag Reference]].
About half of the tiles the player explores will have an enemy lair on them. Lairs must be cleared through combat. Attacking a lair triggers an ''Arrive at Site'' story. Empty tiles may trigger a ''Wilderness Scouting'' 'story. Monsters will occasionally attack tiles that the player controls. The player will be prompted to defend.


===Style Markup===
As play progresses through the [[chapter]]s , the player will gain access to more and more area, which means additional tiles will be accessible. Control of tiles is important to the player, because it provides benefits at the end of each chapter, and Tiles are a source of stories and advancement for characters as well.
Text in a comic panel gets a style automatically depending on if the TextBox is set up as narration, speech, thought, etc.. The Style can be modified using square brackets. Generally, text-style markup is similar to html markup, in that you have a starting and ending tag, BUT! our style format doesn't require the end tag to have anything in it.


It looks like this:
===Mission Maps===
  [bold]'''bold text''' [italic]'''''Bold italic text'''''[]'''bold again'''[] regular again.


[[Mission]]s take place on randomly generated maps. The way it works is there are a set of scripts, and each script builds one type of map, with some random variation. Mission maps are designed to break the encounter into 2-4 sections, so that the player has some control over the pace of the fight.


'''TODO add some pictures of styled text here'''
===Legacy and Unlockables===
A player's [[Legacy]] is a collection of their favorite heroes, and these heroes can rejoin playthrough after playthrough. Similarly we track things the player has done over time as [[Unlockables]], which are also stored in the legacy. Stories should be able to query this stuff.


You can set the size, color, and font of the text. See Main article on [[Text Styles]] for a full list of available fonts, styles, and colors.
===Effects: Triggers, Targets and Outcomes===
Most things that happen in the game are modeled with [[Effects]]. Effects each have a trigger, a set of targets, and a set of branching outcomes. This same system is used for combat abilities and storytelling.


=Tone, Style, Voice, Visuals=
Stories use this system to specify when they can be told, and how they change the game world.
hey what's a good story?


What's our "bar" for comic panels?
See Main Article: [[Story Inputs and Outputs]]


How many personality-specific lines should there be?
==Tools==
===Set up your work space===
If you are a developer and have version control access, you should also have access to the version control setup guide, which is not stored on this wiki since it contains some sensitive information. Do that setup first.


Each character in an [[event]] can fulfill a particular [[Story role]].
* How to run [[Scratchpad]],
* Some common [[Technical Difficulties]].
* Learn how to [[Testing|test]] your content.


An example event and the thinking behind it can be found [[Event design philosophy|here]].
===Exploring Existing Content===


=Scope=
The fastest way to find the content is by using [[Scratchpad]], but a lot of it can be found in the game as well, if you have cheats turned on. The [[Character Sheet]] is home to a lot of this, and the [[Content Editor]] can be pulled up with F12 once you're in-game.
What can a story do?


==Story Inputs==
[[Combat Lab]] is a great place to see what's currently possible in the game. From here, there a number of cheats accessible that will help you to build any character you want to try out. [[Gear]] upgrades, ability upgrades, and (some) narrative content can all be accessed here if you poke around. Particularly, check out the [[Character Sheet]].
What can you rely on? What can a story know about the state of the game, and how can you incorporate that in your writing?


===Company State ===
[[Environment Lab]] will show you what mission maps we currently support.
===Legacy Unlocks===
===Present Heroes===
===All Heroes===
===Where are we===
===What are we fighting?===
===Plot/Chapter progress===
===Specifying NPCs===
===Anything else you want?===


==Story Outcomes==
[[Name Lab]] gives you some insight into the name generator.
What results are possible? What's desired? A lot of this will vary based on event type, but.


===Grant Gear===
[[The Content and Comics Editor]] is where the vast bulk of the content in the game is accessible.


Gear gotten from an event may include augments, weapons, off-hand items, or (rarely/epically) a new type of armor.
[[Character Lab]] is currently sorta broken, but wants to be a catalog of all the heroes and monsters we can generate.


===Body Modifications===
===Using The Editors===
See main article: [[Comic Editor Reference]]
[[File:BodyModification_morthagiArm.png|200px]] [[File:BodyModification_tentacle.png|200px]] [[File:BodyModification_wolfHead.png|200px]]


Heroes' arms, legs and heads can be replaced with exciting things. These replacements may happen as the result of a choice in an event (e.g. a hero gets a wolf head after agreeing to join the wolf god), or they may be gained as rewards for quests that become available after the hero loses a limb in combat (e.g., after losing an arm, a hero discovers an abandoned Morthagi who offers to build them a mechanical one).
==Tone, Style, Voice, Visuals==
hey what's a good story?


In addition to replacements, modifications like wings, scars, or tattoos may be added.
What's our "bar" for comic panels?
 
Most body modifications will affect the hero's stats or abilities in some way (e.g., our hero with wings can now ignore obstacles when moving during a battle).
 
===History Lines===
===Stat boosts===
===Add/remove hooks, aspects===
===Overland Stations===
===Modify Overland State===
===Affect combat===
===Hero Relationships===
===Unlock stuff===


How many personality-specific lines should there be?


Let's decide all this!


==Stretching and Establishing new Content==
==Stretching and Establishing new Content==
Line 176: Line 128:
'''Comic Art''' is very cheap. If you need a prop or a background to tell a story properly, ask for it!
'''Comic Art''' is very cheap. If you need a prop or a background to tell a story properly, ask for it!


'''Special Gear''' Weapons are maybe the second-cheapest asset class in the game, specify as many as you like. Augments are also pretty cheap. Armor is fairly expensive, but we can do it if it feels really special.
'''Special [[Gear]]''' Weapons are maybe the second-cheapest asset class in the game, specify as many as you like. Augments are also pretty cheap. Armor is fairly expensive, but we can do it if it feels really special.


'''One-Off Monsters''' if none of the existing monsters make sense, you can call for a one-off monster to appear in a story or a fight. Most stories probably won't need this, but it's relatively inexpensive, so let's do it when it makes sense.
'''One-Off Monsters''' if none of the existing monsters make sense, you can call for a one-off monster to appear in a story or a fight. Most stories probably won't need this, but it's relatively inexpensive, so let's do it when it makes sense.
Line 196: Line 148:
'''Combat Avantages/Disadvantages''' are not totally implemented, so let us know what you want to see.
'''Combat Avantages/Disadvantages''' are not totally implemented, so let us know what you want to see.


==Event Types==
There are maybe 10 or 12 different types of randomly selected events that we need. They each cover a particular situation, have different inputs and outputs, and generally impose particular constraints on the writer.


=Event Types=
See main article: [[Event Types]].
Stories in Wildermyth are applied procedurally. When the player is in a situation that calls for a story, the game searches the database of events for all the stories that could fit the situation, and then picks one randomly. Different situations come with different storytelling constraints.
 
A Note on Branching: Branching events are currently pretty awkward in our system, and so most of our stories currently revolve around a single choice. If this is too limiting, let's talk about it! We have some ideas for how to improve it but really it depends on what you want to write.
 
==Exploration Oriented Stories==
Exploration is a core feature of our game. We want a wide variety of stories here, and they can be somewhat involved.
 
===Wilderness Scouting===
When you scout a new tile, and there are no enemies, there might be something else interesting to interact with. We want a large number of these. Most will be oriented around a single choice, maybe two choices.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|-
! Input || Tile, Party
|-
! Suggested Output || Station, Delving, Character Development
|}
 
===Arrive at Hostile Site===
When you arrive at a hostile site for the first time, it's scary! There might be interesting site features, or a relationship story to tell, a prisoner to decide whether to rescue, or a novel tactic to consider. These can establish details about the site and the combat to come. We want a lot of these.
 
==Tactical Stories==
 
===Ambushed===
===Tactical Defense===
===Attack Site (subsequent)===
 
==Combat-Oriented Stories==
===Mortal Choice===
===Mid-mission story===
===Mission Victory===
===Mission Defeat===
 
==Infrastructure Stories==
===Site Feature Quest (Delving)===
===Founding Towns===
 
==Randomly Surfaced Stories==
===Personal Relationship (Hook) Quest===
===Personal Upgrade Quest===
===Site Quests===


==Experimental Stories==
[[Category:Modding]]
===Adventures and Scenarios===
[[Category:Writing]]

Revision as of 22:16, 4 December 2019

All about writing for Wildermyth!

Lore

The Yondering Lands

YonderingLands.jpg

The world goes through cycles. Civilizations rise and fall, and threats to humanity wax and wane. Building ruins, powerful artifacts, the memories of great deeds all fade into myth or are lost to memory and are rediscovered time and again. The history of the lands are repeated patterns that are still never quite the same.

The Yondering Lands are sortof vaguely American. Or at least, if you have a choice between American and European, lean American. This applies mainly to flora and fauna, but also to little things like, we don't talk a lot about nobility, kings and queens, and we don't use a lot of the strongly-flavored medieval-fantasy words. No British accents or isms, unless it's a particularly foreign character. (People have been known to fall into the lands from time to time from other places, so.) But then also, we don't quite do banjos and cowboy hats. Guitars are maybe right on the edge. Fiddles are probably cool, right? I don't know.

Monsters!

MonsterBanner deepist.jpg

Deepists are a minotaur-worshiping cult who live in cave systems. They put stone and fungi to creative use, and our heroes aren't sure whether their power comes from their own passion, or from something more sinister... Read some in-fiction lore here.

MonsterBanner drauven.jpg

Drauven are grouchy lizard-folk who primarily live in the trees of forests and swamps, or in trees within swamps, but are happy to descend to the ground to go raid a village and maybe snack on a villager. They decorate themselves and their environment with bird and dragon-like motifs. Read some in-ficiton lore here.

MonsterBanner gorgon.jpg

Gorgons have been corrupting the local wildlife and turn them into raging tentacular monsters. They seem to be doing this experimentally, in pursuit of some deeper truth, but to call them "scientists" would tarnish the word. In the meantime, they continue to create the beasts as quickly as we can slaughter them. Read some in-fiction lore here.

MonsterBanner morthagi.jpg

Morthagi are clockwork undead, created from bone and metal long ago to serve some dark master. Their creator may be long gone, but the Morthagi themselves have persisted, clanking and hissing in the dusty, forgotten corners of the world. Read some in-fiction lore here.

MonsterBanner thrixl.jpg

Thrixl are dreamlike insect-dragons. Their powers are more subtle than those of a Drauv, but more frightening. They prefer to attack minds and souls directly. Read some in-fiction lore here.

All monsters are indeed monstrous. There may be shades of gray, but in aggregate monstrous life is incompatible with human life. Humans fight monsters to survive.

There are no demi-humanish creatures in the Yondering Lands: no elves, dwarves, orcs, or their kin. But I mean, we COULD have some badger-people or some other weird stuff. I mean, Drauven are kindof on the line, aren't they? But certainly none of the "stock fantasy races."

Magic!

Human magic is performed by mystics who interfuse with objects to manipulate them.

But also, some monsters can perform magic and/or ARE magic.

Equipment!

There's lots of equipment in the game. Generally procedurally generated, but its history grows over time. Every piece of equipment has a description, some narrative insight that follows some general rules.

TODO - The equipment design is in pretty heavy flux right now.

How the Game Works

This is a quick overview of how the game functions. It's good to have a handle on this so you know what you can do.

Heroes

Heroes are generated with History, which drives Aspects, which drive Stats.

Hero History is generated as three lines, an Origin, and Anecdote, and a Motivation. These affect prime stats and personality stats, and also seed Hooks.

History lines leave behind a number of Hooks (usually 3 per hero), which are more specific character aspects and often take the form of a personality flaw or quirk. Hooks are great things to hang quests off of! They're also useful for letting a hero have a moment of badassery or weakness that's totally in theme for them. You can call out hooks when adding story roles, if you want to tell a whole story that hinges on one, or if you want to call out an optional character to provide an alternative path, that sort of thing.

Aspects are just facts about the hero. Stuff like "human", "female", "attractedToMen", "hunter", "missingLeftArm". Aspects can carry stat modifiers and Effects. Aspects are the workhorse of the dynamic content in the game, almost everything you need to know about a hero, site, anything really, can be accessed as an aspect (other than stat values). (History lines cannot be queried, but can apply aspects, which can be queried.) Hooks are just aspects with a special naming convention and some extra tooling around them.

Stats are divided into Prime and Secondary, and into Gameplay and Personality. You can use any of the stats when selecting targets and determining difficulty rolls for events. Some stats have different natural ranges, which is a bit awkward, but that's where we're at right now. Personality stats are a great way to make characters come alive.

Wildermyth Content.png

Overland Map

See: Campaign

The overland map is randomly generated, and fits together like board game tiles. In between tiles, mountain ranges and rivers create barriers that restrict travel. Players explore one tile at a time, scouting the tile, fighting any lurking threats, and then defending and improving the tile over time.

About half of the tiles the player explores will have an enemy lair on them. Lairs must be cleared through combat. Attacking a lair triggers an Arrive at Site story. Empty tiles may trigger a Wilderness Scouting 'story. Monsters will occasionally attack tiles that the player controls. The player will be prompted to defend.

As play progresses through the chapters , the player will gain access to more and more area, which means additional tiles will be accessible. Control of tiles is important to the player, because it provides benefits at the end of each chapter, and Tiles are a source of stories and advancement for characters as well.

Mission Maps

Missions take place on randomly generated maps. The way it works is there are a set of scripts, and each script builds one type of map, with some random variation. Mission maps are designed to break the encounter into 2-4 sections, so that the player has some control over the pace of the fight.

Legacy and Unlockables

A player's Legacy is a collection of their favorite heroes, and these heroes can rejoin playthrough after playthrough. Similarly we track things the player has done over time as Unlockables, which are also stored in the legacy. Stories should be able to query this stuff.

Effects: Triggers, Targets and Outcomes

Most things that happen in the game are modeled with Effects. Effects each have a trigger, a set of targets, and a set of branching outcomes. This same system is used for combat abilities and storytelling.

Stories use this system to specify when they can be told, and how they change the game world.

See Main Article: Story Inputs and Outputs

Tools

Set up your work space

If you are a developer and have version control access, you should also have access to the version control setup guide, which is not stored on this wiki since it contains some sensitive information. Do that setup first.

Exploring Existing Content

The fastest way to find the content is by using Scratchpad, but a lot of it can be found in the game as well, if you have cheats turned on. The Character Sheet is home to a lot of this, and the Content Editor can be pulled up with F12 once you're in-game.

Combat Lab is a great place to see what's currently possible in the game. From here, there a number of cheats accessible that will help you to build any character you want to try out. Gear upgrades, ability upgrades, and (some) narrative content can all be accessed here if you poke around. Particularly, check out the Character Sheet.

Environment Lab will show you what mission maps we currently support.

Name Lab gives you some insight into the name generator.

The Content and Comics Editor is where the vast bulk of the content in the game is accessible.

Character Lab is currently sorta broken, but wants to be a catalog of all the heroes and monsters we can generate.

Using The Editors

See main article: Comic Editor Reference

Tone, Style, Voice, Visuals

hey what's a good story?

What's our "bar" for comic panels?

How many personality-specific lines should there be?

Let's decide all this!

Stretching and Establishing new Content

How far can stories range from the existing material and game assets? Spoiler: quite far!

Because we are using 2D art and no animation, certain things are incredibly cheap for us to do, which would be prohibitively expensive for other games. Here are some examples which should give you an idea. In general, we are looking for writing to stretch and grow our content range as much as possible.

Here are few but if you have a particular idea, run it past!

Comic Art is very cheap. If you need a prop or a background to tell a story properly, ask for it!

Special Gear Weapons are maybe the second-cheapest asset class in the game, specify as many as you like. Augments are also pretty cheap. Armor is fairly expensive, but we can do it if it feels really special.

One-Off Monsters if none of the existing monsters make sense, you can call for a one-off monster to appear in a story or a fight. Most stories probably won't need this, but it's relatively inexpensive, so let's do it when it makes sense.

Body Modifications are where our character rig really shines. Any limb, or the head, can be swapped out for something monstrous or more awesome. Hair styles, skin patterns, scars, tattoos, bring it! It gets a little tricky if it modifies the face, because the different facial expressions

Playable Characters might be monsters or weirdthings that you can recruit or get transformed into. Fairly cheap, and we really want these. One thing to consider is whether they will be able to use weapons or armor. The default approach is that non-humans don't use gear, but we could possibly make an exception for weapon-wielding, since that is relatively easy to rig up.

In-game Scenery is cheap, and could double as comic props?

Map icons are very cheap if you need something specific.

In-Game Environments are expensive, since they require a lot of art to work together, and a deal of programming too. But, bring your ideas. We might be able to make something work.

Combat Abilities Do you need special abilities, as rewards, for one-off enemies, playable characters, or whatever? They are pretty easy to make! Say what you want and we can talk it over.

Buffs/Debuffs are relatively cheap, particularly if they are similar to an existing effect.

Combat Avantages/Disadvantages are not totally implemented, so let us know what you want to see.

Event Types

There are maybe 10 or 12 different types of randomly selected events that we need. They each cover a particular situation, have different inputs and outputs, and generally impose particular constraints on the writer.

See main article: Event Types.