Basics of Module Creation

Basics of Module Creation

The scary button.

An informal walkthrough of how to get the basics of a module up and running.

Remember: Any module you have downloaded can be opened in the module editor so you can see how it works. (This is true of combats also.) If there's a particular trick you liked and want to replicate, and you can't figure out a way to do it yourself, crack open the module you played and see how they did it.

When you create a new module you'll need to give it a name. This will serve as a filename and also its identifier on mod.io if you ever upload it. Don't be scared to give your module a placeholder name, though -- when it's done you can use the 'save as' button to duplicate the whole thing under a more sensible name.

Aside from that, remember that everything here can be changed later. You don't have to get things right first time.

First Time in the Module Editor

When you open the module editor for the first time, or when you click the 'new' button within it, this is what you're going to see. You'll note one button here is aggressively highlighted, which is the 'create beat' button. You need to click this first because modules are structured in beats which 'contain' all the other stuff. No container, no module. Anyway, click the button to get a beat into your module, then ignore it and look over at the left.

Module Metadata

I think this is metadata? I've never been super-certain about what metadata is. Anyway, this is where you put down all the details about your module. The key things you'll need to think about for a working module are:

• Module Title. I don't think this is strictly necessary, but you should put something in here anyway.
• Starting Beat. Players who fire up this module will start here. This is automatically set to the first beat you just created, but can be changed later. I found switching it around was really useful for bug-testing later on, but remember to change it back to your actual starting beat before release!
• Starting License Level. What level range is this module meant for? At the time of writing I don't think this data is surfaced anywhere, but it's useful metadata anyway and you can enforce it to prevent players bringing LL12 demigods into a LL0 scrub module. Or not!
• Lancers. This bit gets it's own subheading.

Lancers

Right now this module is for zero Lancers. I don't know what happens if you try to run a combat scene with no Lancers but it probably isn't good. You'll want to 'add seat' until you have the number of Lancers this module is for -- there's a maximum of four and, let's say, a practical minimum of one. If in doubt, go with four. Each Lancer with a 'seat' will be fully player-controlled during combats and level-ups. Lancer seats all have an index (0-3) which is how the game will refer to them in triggers, and are set to one of four states: flex, origin, custom, or fixed. To understand these, you'll need to know what an 'origin character' is.

Origin Characters

(Really testing how low the sub-headings can go on MediaWiki here.)

An origin character is basically a fixed NPC that can join the player's squad and can level up and such. The distinction between them and 'module NPCs' is that origin characters can level up, that level up is controlled by the player, and they have the full range of PC level up options. They have consistent portraits, and are easy to refer to in triggers, so they fill the role of NPC squadmates who have consistent characters throughout the storyline. A module can have as many origin characters as you like, and there are triggers which can add and remove them, but I'm not getting into that in this tutorial.

Lancer Seats

So, back to Lancer seats.

• A fixed seat is set to a particular origin character for your module. When a player fires up this module, that seat will always be filled with that character.
• An origin seat requires the player to pick an origin character from the list your module contains, but could be any of them.
• A custom seat requires the player to create a new character for the module, or load an already-created character. Note that if you've set a starting license level for the module and left the 'enforced' checkbox active, this new character will have to be in that level range. I don't think enforced LL applies to origin characters but I haven't checked.
• And a flex seat can be an origin character or a custom one as the player sees fit.

Beats

Okay, back to that beat you created.