Help with making a good SP mission/scenario for Noobs!

[sidekick7569]

Im looking for tutorials that will teach me how to create a good SP missions, from start to finish.
Thank You!

[L3TUC3]

A good SP mission is a combination of many different aspects, but at it's base it's simple design with use of triggers and endstates.

I would advise you to write out your simple mission flow first, then set up the supporting framework prototype in the editor to have a solid base before getting caught up in details.

[SP]My Awesome Mission simple

Simple mission description:
Capt sidekick is tasked with shooting dude X at location B, drive to location C and blow up building Y and Z.

Mission flow:
1. Player start at location A. (Mission start / assign task 1)
2. Go (walk) to location B. (Mission progress/must have dude x at location b)
3. Shoot/kill dude X ( task 1 completed! Assign task 2)
4. Drive to location C. (Mission progress/must have vehicle)
5. Arrive at location C. ( task 2 completed! Assign task 3)
6. Plant charges at building Y and Z (Mission progress/must have explosives and building Y,Z)
7. Blow up Y and Z (task 3 complete!)
8. End mission (task 1, 2, 3 completed, mission success!)
(9. Capt sidekick died. Mission failed!)

Once you have your simple prototype working, you can start fleshing out the mission with detailed briefings, player gear, placing non-critical enemies, ambiance fluff (outposts, time of day, random civilians), intros etc etc. You can make it as fancy as possible within your skills. Maybe even do custom lip-synced voiceovers and radio-comms!

Now my example above is really simple and wouldn't be considered be a good mission as is, but with finetuning and adding extra production values you can create some very enjoyable experiences. Read below.

[SP]My awesome mission detailed

Briefing/Situation/Mission:

Capt Sidekick is part of an elite 4 man recon team, currently asigned to assasinate CSAT Col. Jafar and destroy two radar installations that are part of CSAT advanced warning system. With Jafar and the domes out of the way, the CSAT command will be in temporary dissarray the initial NATO invasion of Altis will stay unnoticed longer and save the lives of many servicemen.

1. Mission intro. UAV flies over Pyrgos and highlights several enemy positions and targets/
2. Mission start. Fade to light. Player and his team start at dawn in a boat near the docks of Pyrgos. It's foggy. (Radio Conversation with HQ plays). Assign task one, Kill Col. Jafar at the army base.
3. Player team lands on Pyrgos and quietly take out a sentry patrol with their silenced SMGs on the beach.
4. Player team sneaks through Pyrgos, avoiding enemy patrols.
5. Player team arrives at the base and manage to sneak inside and kill Jafar and his guards. (Task 1 complete! Radio conversation with HQ to report progress. Task 2 assigned, Drive to the foothills).
6. The player team commandeers an enemy Ifrit and drives it the couple of kilometers to the foothills. They are not recognized or challenged this way (setcaptive true) by passing CSAT convoy. Team members get nervous and comment when they pass a CSAT APC.
7. Player team arrives at the foothills (task 2 completed! Another radio conversation with HQ. HQ reiterates the importance of the structures. task 3 assigned!)
8. The player team scales the hills, taking out a few more patrols and hiding from a patrolling helicopter! They arrive at the radar posting and clear it of enemies.
9. The demolition expert sets the charges and the team retreats to a safe distance.
10. Epic explosion! The radar domes are destroyed! (task 3 completed! The player team contacts HQ with their success, and they are congratulated on their mission. They must now hide in the countryside until the invasion proper commences.
11. Fade to black. Mission ends with a debriefing outlining the mission objectives and their ending states. The debriefing further explains how this mission helped the war effort.
(12. Capt Sidekick and his team died! Mission is failed)

The flow is pretty much identical to the simple example, except it's a lot more detailed to help the player feel immersed. The player team's composition and purpose is mentioned. The target has a name and rank (no longer faceless persian cannon-fodder 124231). There's now more fancy visual aides like the UAV intro and daytime/fog settings, there's a HQ the player gets orders from and reports to. Enemies are at logical locations and do acceptable things like guarding and patrolling, and a few scripting tricks are used to obfuscate interesting mechanics that aid player experience like the Ifrit commandeering and disguising. They are purposely NOT extracted because they're an advanced team, yet still accomplish the mission.

TL;DR Make solid mission foundation first, then do details.

This is probably the best non-technical tip I can give you, the rest is just identifying what you want to do and then look for solutions. Most of the time there are resources available to you with others that have done the same or something close to it.

1. BIS Arma 3 Editing forums[forums.bistudio.com]. Most if not all creators stop by there with questions. A simple search will often find what you're looking for, and if not you can ask.

2. BIS community wiki[community.bistudio.com] Here you will find more technical explanations and examples of mission editor and scripting functions that will be useful to you. Don't hesitate to look at Arma 2 samples as well, as most information is transferable to Arma 3.

3. Youtube There are quite a few useful video tutorials available. I linked to Jester814 as he's pretty good at explaining the editor from starter to advanced scripting.

There's no real checklist of what makes a good mission, but if you put enough work into it and make it a solid enjoyable experience, others will appreciate it. I hope this helps.

[sidekick7569]

L3TUC3, Thank you for all that info, thats really kind of you to share all that. I'm going to use well!