Time to test the adventure! The play mode is a very important tool, similar to the test drive mode for creatures. We’ll probably use it to test everything we put on the planet. I, for instance, placed the captain near every building I put down, so I could go to play mode and check it from the player’s perspective. Sometimes we don’t notice the gaps between buildings and ground, or other buildings, until we get really close to them.
The play mode also allows us to skip any act of the mission, so we can check and recheck how the adventure plays out and if the AI is working correctly. It’s also important to play it through to see if it isn’t too hard or even impossible to complete.
I had Kip Katsarelis (one of the producers) play through my adventure, and he managed to complete it without my help, so I guess the players won’t have trouble.
In the end there were a couple of mistakes I only noticed after sharing the adventure on the Maxis server, mostly stuff on the dialogs that didn’t matched what was happening. I planned on having a NPC give a bomb to the player, but gave up on that, and somehow forgot to change the dialog… I hope everyone who plays it will overlook this and enjoy the adventure. Just remember we only had two days to complete it, and that it was our first time playing the expansion pack.
Parkaboy also shares details on the buildings, creatures, vehicles and even the gameplay effects that he used for his mission. Sporedum has the full scoop, so head on over there for the full article!
