External writing templates for Spreadsheet programs (made in Google Sheets, tho)

[CellyEl]

I've found that I have a prodigious amount of downtime at work, where I have access to a phone or anything I can drop on a moment's notice, but otherwise can't really be too distracted. I found myself wanting to fill this time constructively, or at least doing something besides doomscrolling.

However, there's a dearth of external support for writing AE outside of game, that A) coherently counts string length, 2) can be copied from cleanly and accurately, and III) has a full list of what all categories you're writing for, with string length for each.

Presumably, you could crack open the .storyarc files in an editor and have most of that functionality, but woofa doofa my two brain cells melted when I tried.

 

As such, I pieced together this spreadsheet in google docs, which I'm sure can be opened in many spreadsheet-ey programs, containing templates for framing all the individual fields that make up every individual inputable bit of text in AE. Idea is you pop open a spread sheet, copy the objectives you want over, and have a coherent framing structure for writing all AE text outside of the game. The closest thing to complexity is the conditional formatting on the string length column.

Anyway, if you think you might use it for your own writing, or you have really obvious suggestions that my tired work brain couldn't put together, lemme know!

Mission ArchiText Objective Templates.xlsx

[CellyEl]

S'goin alright

 

[Greycat]

I want to say there used to *be* an external MA writing tool - though it wasn't updated and had fallen behind/gotten broken because of MA updates even before sunset.

 

Still, interesting template (and more organized than using Notepad 😄 ) - nice.

[Clave Dark 5]

10 hours ago, Greycat said:

I want to say there used to *be* an external MA writing tool

I want to say it was a webpage???  But yeah, I don't think it lasted long.

[Greycat]

13 hours ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

I want to say it was a webpage???  But yeah, I don't think it lasted long.

 

Maybe there were two then...

 

That said, I'm kind of surprised they didn't last. The format of the .storyarc file isn't ... *overly* horrible, until you start adding custom groups in. (I want to say the character models get added to it then, which makes it big and nasty.) More an issue of "Keep up to date with available maps/etc."

 

... looked at a (simple, single mission) arc, and yeah.

 

StartStoryArc
Title "Test mission"
Description "Here to test a group! "
ContactType Contact
ContactCategory P2108159343
Contact Ouroboros_Crystal_Console_A
Morality Neutral
StartMission
    Title ""
    SubTitle ""
    MinLevel 0
    MaxLevel 0
    MinLevelAuto 0
    MaxLevelAuto 0
    MapName maps/Missions/CargoShip/CargoShip_Layout_04.txt
    MapSet CargoShip
    MapLength Small
    EnemyGroupType Custom
    VillainGroup "Mystery Cult"
    Pacing Flat
    CompletionTime 0
    ContactIntro Test!
    ContactSendOff "TEst! TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEST!"
    ContactDeclineSendOff ""
    ContactStillBusy Test!
    ContactReturnSuccess "Tested! "
    ContactReturnFail ""
    MissionAccept Accept
    CompassActiveTask "Testy test. Click barrel when tired of testing."
    MissionEntryDialog ""
    MissionSuccessDialog ""
    MissionFailDialog ""
    MissionRequirements  Test
    CustomVillainGroupIdx 1
    Detail
    {
        Name Test
        DetailType Collection
        Entity OO_Council_Drum_Barrel_01
        Quantity 1
        ObjectInteractionTime 4
        ObjectLocation Floor
    }

EndMission

 

All stuff you could just edit in Notepad if you know what to put in (which, of course, is part of the challenge.) The two critter types I have in this mission, though, take up *far* more space than this (granted, it's an 18k file.) This (other than the custom groups) should be easy..ish... to create an offline editor for. (No, I'm not a programmer, last programming I did was in Basic and scripting in (Auto)Lisp in the 90s. Decided I hated semicolon hunts in some version of C and haven't gone back.)

[CellyEl]

Honestly, the biggest issue I have is that I sure love to use Every Fucking Character in a field when writing, and notepad is... less than elegant when it comes to keeping track of string lengths, while spreadsheet programs tend to handle it like a champ.

[Lockely]

I hope you don't mind, I've taken the original document and changed it to a shareable Google Sheet for folks to make their own copies instead of having to import an xlsx file.

I've also created tabs for each of the 'pages' in the Mission Architect with the universal stuff pre-loaded so people can more easily keep track.

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZLLuLOt_W_afJuvQ731PjxlaUlNu-JQUHY8zU3z4C2s/edit?usp=sharing

 

I'm happy to pull it down if you prefer, just let me know!

 

[CellyEl]

Cool! Thank you!

[VinceBlood]

On 12/4/2023 at 7:48 AM, Greycat said:

I want to say there used to *be* an external MA writing tool - though it wasn't updated and had fallen behind/gotten broken because of MA updates even before sunset.

 

Still, interesting template (and more organized than using Notepad 😄 ) - nice.

 

A long time ago in a forum far, far away, I'd written a text version of it intended for folks to work on when not-in game to be pasted in later, and I think that one got lost to the aeons.

[Ankylosaur]

On 12/12/2023 at 5:31 AM, CellyEl said:

I sure love to use Every Fucking Character in a field when writing

 

I hear you. 🙂

 

So I finally started fiddling around with a new mission and decided to take a look at this ambitious tool you put together. Mighty impressive!

 

However it looks a bit daunting to put all this in twice and then try to keep it in sync with the actual mission file. In practice, have you found yourself detailing everything in it?

 

I may try it out for the major text blocks that I create though - like the mission text and maybe even character texts. 

 

It got me thinking though - I wonder how hard it would be for someone who has access to the source code to package up the editor as an offline standalone editor for the local file. Throw in a spell checker and my needs would be met. 🙂 

[Lockely]

1 hour ago, Ankylosaur said:

 

I hear you. 🙂

 

So I finally started fiddling around with a new mission and decided to take a look at this ambitious tool you put together. Mighty impressive!

 

However it looks a bit daunting to put all this in twice and then try to keep it in sync with the actual mission file. In practice, have you found yourself detailing everything in it?

 

I may try it out for the major text blocks that I create though - like the mission text and maybe even character texts. 

 

It got me thinking though - I wonder how hard it would be for someone who has access to the source code to package up the editor as an offline standalone editor for the local file. Throw in a spell checker and my needs would be met. 🙂 

 

I've been using it for three things primarily.

 

1) When I want to work on my mission idea and don't have immediate access to CoH

2) When I need to change an escort to an ally or vice versa and need somewhere to put all their text

3) When I'm doing a major rewrite of a big text block and need the character limit validation

[CellyEl]

Yeah, the intended use case for my creation of it was 'I have my phone, I am at work, there is standby time, write?' So I primarily needed formatting and charcount for individual blocks of info.

Typically, it goes into fields in-game after I get a single mission done, which also lets me fuss with the format at home a little while I reset my document, set up the skeletal structure of the next mission, etc.

[Ankylosaur]

I ended up using it to write big chunks of the story in my latest - I've done similar with just a word doc, but found the character counts really handy! 

 

Thanks for putting this together.