File Size Decision: Multiple Files or Reduced Ambitions?

Question for you MA artists out there.

I've been pushing the limits lately on the type of story I want to tell with the Mission Architect. I'm wondering what others have done in respect to the big decisions. No, I'm not interested in the how to make your mission file smaller, I have those tricks available. What I'm wondering is from an artistic standpoint, at what point do you say I need to make this a multi file story arc? Versus there are too many custom mobs, change your story and pare it down.

The current arc I'm working on is crazily out of hand. So much so that if I work every story idea I want in, I'll be lucky to get a single mission that fits. My problem is I don't really want to sacrifice story elements for file size limitations. But if I don't, I'm going to have to struggle with using all three of my arc slots for single mission files and that seems counter-productive as well.

How have you other artists out there dealt with this issue in the past? There's obviously no single answer, but any input anyone could provide would be appreciated.

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Well, as a writer, i want to buy up more arc slots and create a magnum opus of epic proportions that spans well beyond what any sane man would dare wish to attempt.

As a player, I shudder in repulsion whenever i see a story arc labeld "Part 1".

So, do what you want, but don't expect everyone to wanna play it =)

If you want some HELPFUL advice, they say that working within boundries can help tell a more focused (and better) story, and... something about brevity being the soul of wit or something. Basically, try to say more with less.

Also, if you have A, B, and C happen and you want to make a mission for each event, consider compressing two or even all three into one mission using chained objectives and larger maps.Especially if each event doesn't NEED 2000 characters of text between each to understand what's going on. Just an idea.

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-STEELE =)


Allied to all sides so that no matter what, I'll come out on top!
Oh, and Crimson demands you play this arc-> Twisted Knives (MA Arc #397769)

I would say, write your arc, however large it is, however many slots it takes, then editin down, get feedback from other players, trim and tweak till its better than it was - but - edit it down for reasons to do with narrative improvement, NOT just to shoehorn it into one slot. Not all of Shakespeares plays have the exact same wordcount.

Eco

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MArcs:

The Echo, Arc ID 1688 (5mish, easy, drama)
The Audition, Arc ID 221240 (6 mish, complex mech, comedy)
Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488 (lowbie, 1mish, 10-min timed)

Hmmm... I'm torn on this one; part of me wants to say that if you aspire to art, you still need to be aware that bigger isn't always better, and sprawling isn't the same as depth. Everyone speaks of War and Peace as a great work of Art, but what they remember is only the basic plot. And yes, I have read War and Peace, but it was a struggle to get through it despite it's craftmanship, and I'd probably not try again any time soon, because it's a colossal undertaking in time alone to tackle.

So what have I done with my own arcs? Well I only published 1 so far, as I can't get the game interface to fit what I had in mind for some of my other ideas... but have a play through Apocalypse Cow; you'll notice I've crammed an ungodly amount of content (and cow puns) in. But then look at it as a fellow artist... notice how I've cut corners here and there. Porter West on mission 2? He was originally a custom combat capable character, but did I really need 5 of them? I WANTED them, and wanted the original Porter, but how about 4 and a clever tweak; would someone making a delivery really need or want to stay and fight? Nope, so swap him to a standard model, and have him run at the door. Voila, space saved because now he doesn't need any power sets, and I can get my wider vision into 100kb. (I had to fix that with Issue 15 though, it's taken ages to get the exact right settings to have him flee instead of follow again)
And originally, I had patrols on most maps... to keep the player on their toes and give them a sense of unexpected challenge. But do people really want that, when you can tweak the essential mission objective spawn instead and give them certain challenges but of which they'll understand the certain importance of? Now there's just two patrols, in order to keep two joke comments I really liked, on maps where there's a fair amount of down time upon, but instead I've got the surround objective spawns set to hard etc. Again, more space saved, but idea of challenge retained.
Notice I've taken off punctuation at the end of mission briefs in some places etc? Perfect English would be preferable of course, but you'll never get under 100% if you try and use it constantly. Be brief, be informal if you have to be, but make sure your plot goes BAM BAM BAM and people won't really notice you've cut off around 20 full stops on some sentances and saved enough space to get another plot vital line in elsewhere...

I could go on, but you get the point. You don't have to compromise your vision to keep it down to size, but you should be prepared to tweak it around the edges to keep it sharp and succinct.

On the other hand, as already mentioned, the sad case is that no one is playing Art missions anyway, be they in 1 arc or 3. If you really, truly feel you want to write a War and Peace, then use all 3 of the arcs if you have too. However be aware you'll be embracing writing purely for yourself then... obviously you'll enjoy it intensely, because there'll be a 1:1 matching of your thoughts and vision to your output. And also be aware that you'll just get exactly out what you put in; you won't necessarily learn any new skills as an author, or attract any wider praise. What you get is what you already are.

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