Common Mistakes We're seeing a lot of new scenarios. A lot of them, to be honest, we would have been better off not seeing. While we really appreciate people's efforts, it's important to try to provide something people would want to play. First common mistake: no testing. You must test your scenario. This is an absolute necessity. If the player leaves town and is buried in a wall, you've just wasted that person's download time. If you can't enter the main dungeon, there's just no point to having the scenario. Be sure to play through the scenario yourself, at least twice. Try to have a friend over to play it too. Also, if you're on AOL, go to Keyword: Mac Games. There's a big Exile community there, who would probably like to help you test. Second common mistake: the big room syndrome. This is very common with all games that come with scenario editors. A person gets the editor. They're excited! The rush! The power! "Now," they think, "I can place the dragon! I can attack the party with a lich!" They then make a dungeon level which is just one big room, filled with all sorts of the most bizarre and exotic monsters. The problem is that a scenario like this just isn't any fun for someone to play. They walk into the big room and get sucked into a big, huge, long fight. It takes hours to play and probably slaughters their party, and there's no point to it. One advantage of finding someone else to play your scenario is that they can point these problems out. Scenario design is tricky. It takes work and practice. Stick with it, but remember that your very first impulses may well lead you astray. -Jeff Vogel