DiMarzio on 9/12/2015 at 20:07

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Thank you everyone so far for your answers, I'm going to elaborate a bit. I'm very familiar with both engines from the player's perspective, but I'm interested more in the editor side and what possibilities each editor and engine give to the author (and already got some really good insight to that). What I think of the engines as a player is that I prefer the Dark Mod. It has higher and custom difficulty, it has mostly better AI reactions, obviously better graphics and much more realistic light and shadow system. And the last one alone could be the deal breaker for me, as when I play, I strive for realism, and that's going to be a thing in mission design as well. But New Dark isn't excluded, since I enjoy its simpler approach (and I know a lot of people do). And you have to admit that since it's a professional product, the quality standard and design is much higher. The player baser is also a thing to consider. But what I think is that if I'm going for realism, people playing the Dark Mod could be closer to my target audience. Does that make sense?

What I know already of the mission design:
* I probably won't be using self made textures or models, I don't think I have time for that. I don't say no to custom assets however, but I don't want to get bogged down by them.
* Big yes to custom audio. The story requires a conversation or two and as a musician I would love to have custom ambients.
* Not overly big areas. Both inside and outside.
* I'm not sure about scripting yet, but the story definitely needs some scripted event or two.
* I don't know about the amount of details yet. I guess it depends on how devoted I'd get.

But what would you say, which editor could churn out faster and easier a Baffordesque simple mansion mission? What about long and winding mission like Life of the Party? Given that the author is a) a first-timer, or b) an experienced author?

Melan on 9/12/2015 at 21:20

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Actually, I wouldn't call Bafford a simple mansion mission, since it has a large infiltration segment that modern mission designers would either omit, or simply design as a discrete, content-heavy gameplay area. ;) It is not a "typical" example of a fan mission, as much as I love playing missions that get it right.

Generally, building times depend on your building practices. The more you rely on repurposed and altered "prefab" elements or modular architecture, the faster and easier it gets. I outlined how you would design a prefab-heavy mission on the example of Fiasco at Fauchard Street (http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/12568-fiasco-at-fauchard-street/) here. Of course, if you use prefabs, you should be careful your level doesn't become repetitive.

Taking a massive, complex mission like Life of the Party, it would probably take something like 7-12 months, depending on how ambitious you got. My first Thief mission took 9 months including learning using the editor, and it was about the same size (like Thief 2 missions, it maxed out Dromed's resource limits). For a medium-sized mission that looks good and plays good, I'd put that around 3 to 5 months. My first TDM mission was medium-sized, and took two months.