Difference between revisions of "User:Fleeting Whisper/Help Menu/Architect - Custom Characters"

Latest revision as of 17:56, 14 May 2009

Hero (help.txt)

Overview

Overview
While Mission Architect has the largest database of heroes and villains in the known dimensions, sometimes it can still not be enough. That's why Architect allows you to create your own characters. You can pick the rank, fighting preference, powers, gender, costume, name and description of your custom character. Custom characters can be used in any of the following ways:

- Story Giver: This is the person who acts as the contact for your story.
- Boss: The major boss you want the players to fight.
- Allies: A hero or villain the players come across on the mission who teams up with them.
- Captive: A helpless citizen the players must free.
- Escort: A person the players must track down and safely lead out off the map.

- Custom Characters

Custom Characters
You can create a custom character from the 'My Creations' tab in the Mission Browser. Just look for the text that reads My Characters. Select that text then select the button that says Create Character. When you hit this button you'll begin the Character Creation Process.

Rank
All characters in Architect have a Rank. This lets others know how powerful they are.

Character Ranks:
- Person: This is the weakest rank possible. The Person rank doesn't even have powers. Because of this you can never have a character ranked Person as a Boss, Escort or Ally. They can only be the Story Giver or a Captive.

- Minion: This is the lowest powered rank in Architect. Minions are a dime a dozen. They're weak, slow and easy to take down.

- Lieutenant: Stronger and faster than a Minion, but no where near as tough as a Boss.

- Boss: Bosses are stronger and better than Minions and Lieutenants. They don't appear as often on a map, but when they do, they're dangerous.

- Elite Boss: More powerful than a simple Boss, Elite Bosses give players pause before they try and take them down. A single player may have difficulty taking one of these down.

- Arch Villain: The meanest of the mean. These characters strike fear in the hearts of whole teams. While they provide the greatest rewards for players who defeat them, they also deal out the most lethal attacks and have the strongest defenses.

Fighting Preference
Once you've selected the rank of you custom character, you can choose their preferred fighting style. Your options are:

- Melee: The character prefers to fight up close and personal.
- Ranged: The character prefers to stay at a distance to attack.

Flight Preference
Finally, you can choose if your character has the ability to fly or has a Reflection Effect on them.

- Choosing Powers

Choosing Powers
We've divided powers up by their associated archetypes. However, if that's too confusing for you, we've also included an 'All' group.

Primary Powerset
The first step is to select a Primary Powerset. This is the primary attack powerset your custom character is going to use. Powersets are a group of powers that work well together and have a similar theme. In a mission, your custom character will choose which power from this powerset to attack with. When you select a powerset, notice the column just to the right. This displays a description of the Powerset as well as the individual powers attached to that set. If you highlight over these individual powers, you'll notice the column just to the right of that will display important information regarding that power. Feel free to explore each of these Powersets until you find one that fits your custom character.

Secondary Powerset
Once you've picked the Primary Powerset, you must now select the Secondary Powerset. This powerset can also be an attack power, but it's recommended that it be something more defensive. However, the choice is yours.

- Final Touches

Final Touches
Now that your custom character has powers, it's time for you to select a body type (female, male and huge). Experiment with the sliders to get the body type just how you like it. Once you're ready, hit Next to continue.

Costume
After body type you get to pick the costume or outfit your custom character is going to wear. Architect has a lot of options to choose from so take your time and get it just right. Note, if you don't get it just right, you can come back at any point and edit the costume.

Registration
Finally, you have to register your custom character with Architect Entertainment. To do this, you'll need to come up with a valid name and description. You'll also need to attach this custom character to an enemy group. If this is your first time creating a custom character, there won't be any enemy groups to choose from. You'll have to come up with a new one. However, when you make your second custom character, you'll notice a drop down list next to the enemy group filed that will allow you to pick from existing custom enemy groups.

- Custom Groups

Overview
Just as you can create your own characters in Mission Architect, you can also create your own character groups or Enemy Groups. Custom Groups are made up of Minions, Lieutenants and Bosses. Creating your own Custom Group allows you to populate a mission map with all your own enemies, adding even more control and flexibility to your stories.

You can create a Custom Group from the My Creations tab in the Mission Browser. Just look for the text that reads My Groups. Select that text then select the button that says Create Custom Group. When you hit this button you'll be taken to another window that will allow you to create or manipulate custom enemy groups. Note, that you can add existing enemies into your custom groups as well.

Available Enemies
On the left hand side of this window, you'll notice a large column that displays all our existing enemies in our database. You can select any of these enemies and add them to a new custom enemy group on the right hand side of this window. You do this by selecting the enemy group you want then finding the specific enemy you want to add into your new group. Click on that enemy and you'll see text that reads Add+ next to it. Clicking that enemy again will add it to your new group. If you want to remove a character from a custom group, click on that character in the window on the right. You'll then see an option to remove him.

There are tabs in the enemy group window that will filter the enemies to a specific rank. Clicking Minion, Lieutenant or Boss will show you only the enemies in that group of that rank.

When you select a enemy, you'll notice a preview window on the right will display the enemy and any important information such as name, powers and rank.

Custom Enemies
On the left hand side you should also see an option for Custom. Selecting this will show you all of your custom enemy groups and enemies that you've created. If you want to add or edit existing enemies, you can select the Create Character button or the Edit Character button at the bottom of the window to do.

- Group Level Coverage

Group Level Coverage
At the bottom of the Custom Group window you'll notice a bar with markings that go from 1 - 50. This bar is a visual representation of the level ranges of your enemy group. It shows you whether or not you have an enemy within that level range. Ideally, you should have multiple minions, lieutenants and bosses in every level range from 1 - 50.

Thankfully, Custom Characters automatically scale from 1 - 50 so all you have to worry about is having enough variety to keep the group interesting. This is not the case with Standard Enemies already within our database. These enemies have a very predefined level range. To that end, when you add existing enemies to your Custom Groups, make sure you cover your level ranges fully from 1 - 50.

Villain (v_help.txt)

Villain help is identical to Hero help