Custom Missions (Map Editor): Scripts

Right, no one said that creating spectacular missions of your own was going to be easy. Lets face it, creativity can be a tedious enterprise, and time consuming. Especially in a game editor as well-equipped as OFP's. However, when a storyline/scenario comes together and (if you so wish), your ideas enter into the public domain, the sense of personal achievement can pay dividends.

The immense scale of what can actually be achieved in the editor really comes to light when you consider how to approach your intended goal. An all out blood bath, where two opposing faction slug it out in a head-to-head frenzy, is a fairly simple build. But an intricate thriller with twists and turns will require more thought and planning, and probably scripts.

Scripts are sets of instructions that you can write yourself and save as an external file which the mission/build references. You can write scripts to equip vehicles and soldiers, scripts to control alarm systems, scripts to create an atomic mushroom cloud, the list goes on. All that is required is a knowledge of the OFP commands and some general scripting principles like variables and loops. To summarize, the accepted logic is that if you want to build a mission that will have the player(s) more involved and is more complex in its structure, you'll need a few scripts.

That said, the mission editor offers quite enough complexity to create a gripping encounter. If you are new to OFP, start by becoming familiar with the mission editor interface, and take it from there.

Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis

Operation Flashpoint

Developer: Bohemia Interactive StudioYear: 2001

Custom Missions (Map Editor)

I am always trying to think of ideas for scenarios. People please feel free to share some of your ideas, after all the map editor is what gives this game so much replay ability.

Watch this space because I will definitely be posting some of mine here. I wonder how many helicopters my cpu can handle?

Better Then I Ever Thought

Ok, well it’s probably best to start off with my reasons for starting this blog. Firstly I am a huge ARMA fan. ARMA was my first experience of the soldier sim genre. I hadn’t even considered Operation Flashpoint as an alternative given its age and graphics. I know, shallow me.

However, that was all to change, due to a twist of fate (desktop died), meaning that the only gaming platform I had left was a just-above-average HP Laptop. Operation Flashpoint here I come.

Aside from the fairly scratchy graphics, surprisingly, all the addictive stuff remains. If you can see past the graphics issue, it’s a great game. My ARMA for the Laptop.(I know what all you die hard O.P. fans are thinking right now, "What a noob!")

Please don’t let my description confuse anyone though the two games (ARMA/OP CWC)follow completely different storylines, across eras separated by decades, and so are hardly comparable in these terms.

If you’re a fan of ARMA/ARMA 2, and have been putting Operation Flashpoint off, give it a go, you may be pleasantly surprised. I was.