VARSOON'S GUIDE TO MODDING

[Lycanfire]

blatantly stolen from the wiki? mods?

[Alisae]

Is it a hard thing to do on Mafia Scum?

To add what Varsoon said.
Say you don't even have photoshop access and you're only limiting yourself to BBCode and maybe ASCII art.
Then yeah good luck.
I would like to see what you come up with

[Alisae]

Tbf
I actually have an idea of how it would look in my mind.

Row 1 Header - This would be the character you would be
Row 2 (EXTRA) - This can be just like a small quote or something cool
Row 3 - This is where the main flavor of the role pm would be.
Row 4/Cell 1 - Player:
Character:
Role:
Faction:
Row 4/Cell 2 - Image. It would have to be resize accordingly.
Row 4/Cell 3 - Okay now fill in the Player, Character, Role, Faction stuff.
Row 5/Row 6 - Actives/Passives. You can either try to be clever an include them in one row and make it look nice, and/or use two roles. If you want to include a row for Factional Abilities, do that.
Row 7/Header - Win Condition.

I have no idea how to actually make that.
If anyone wants to try, please do it for me. Ty
Because while this LOOKS all ez pez with simple table code, I don't actually know off the top of my head how I would make Row 4 look nice without having the whole table be extremely disorganized/discentered or something.

[Varsoon]

I may or may not have photoshop and if I have it, I probably don't use it exclusively to help me make mafia games...
Okay, I do. Speaking of consistency, I always try to make sure that, image-wise, all the uploads I do for role cards have the same size. It's a lot of hopping into to PS and scaling large resolution images down to whatever I've decided I like for a game.

blatantly stolen from the wiki? mods?

Hoh boy!

[Varsoon]

Here are some examples of how I've formatted role PMs in previous theme games of mine...

[Varsoon]

From Bloodborne Mafia

Spoiler: GASCIOGNE

Father Gasciogne
...Beasts all over the shop. You'll be one of them, sooner or later.
You are aligned with the Town Faction. Upon being Slain, you reward 6,000 Blood Echoes
Father Gascoigne was once partners with the old hunter Henryk, and they were a fierce and gallant duo. You know that another player in the game is TACITURN HUNTER, HENRYK. You know that TACITURN HUNTER, HENRYK is aligned with Yharnam (town). You may chat with TACITURN HUNTER, HENRYK at any time via the this Neighborhood PT: http://forum.mafiascum.net/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=66492 Gascoigne's clothes are tainted by a pungent beastly stench that eats away at him. You do not gain Insight. Instead, you will gain Beasthood from slaying Town-aligned players. You also gain Beasthood from Chalice Dungeon events that reward Insight. "Father" is a title used for clerics in a foreign land, and there is no such rank in the Healing Church. If there is ever no Master of the Hunt due to a tie in votes and lack of an incumbent, you will become the new Master of the Hunt. The discovery of blood made their dream of evolution a reality. If you ever have 2 or more Beasthood, you gain access to your BEAST FORM abilities. You may spend your Beasthood in order to gain Blood Echoes, at a rate of 1000 Echoes for 1 Beasthood. BEAST FORM : What’s that smell? The sweet blood... Oh, it sings to me. It's enough to make a man sick. You may vote up to four times for the same target. Indicate this with subsequent votes for the same target within one post. Seek Paleblood to transcend the Hunt. You are aligned with Yharnam , Home of Blood Ministration. In order to win the game, all threats to Yharnam must be slain. In order to win the game, at least one Yharnam-aligned player must be alive.

[Varsoon]

From Final Fantasy Tactics Mafia

CAPRICORN THE ADAMANT

JOB CLASS : KNIGHT / PRIEST

You are

CAPRICORN THE ADAMANT:

Your role's night actions will never fail--they can still be redirected or end up on a non-legal target, however.

Your Job Classes are Knight and Priest.

Spoiler: KNIGHT

WEAPON BREAK:

Night Use; One Shot, target player is incapable of performing any killing actions for the night. Regains a shot every third day.

EQUIP ARMOR:

You require two more votes to lynch. After Day 4, you only require one more vote to lynch.

WEAPON GUARD:

If you are voting for a player, they may not vote or kill you.

Spoiler: PRIEST

CURE:

One Shot; Day or Night Use; Remove all Job Class effects that are negatively affecting target player. Regains a shot every two days.

REGENERATOR:

You may never take less votes to lynch or have special votes afflict you.

RE-RAISE:

One Use; Target player (other than yourself) is immune to the first killing action that targets them.

You are aligned with the

Zodiac Braves

(town) faction--in order to win, all enemies of the Zodiac Braves must be dead and at least one Zodiac Brave must be alive.

[Varsoon]

From Space Dandy Mafia

Spoiler: HONEY

[Varsoon]

From Space Dandy Mafia II

(Notably, this serves as a good example of me breaking my own rules and using shorthand like 'bodyguard')

Spoiler: QT (Dimension A)

PLAYER NAME - QT

What do you think your trade in value is?

Be still, my hard drive! My circuits rarely get this aroused!

You wanna shoot me in the face and see if I wake up tomorrow? Each day you may investigate a player to learn if they have any non-factional abilities with remaining uses; at night you may bodyguard the same target. You can scope out the aliens while Dandy 'pretends' to ogle the ladies. You may only use this ability if you are the CAPTAIN of the Aloha Oe. You can have the ship use its Dimension Drive to move to the the Dimension with the most scum in it. If we don't get to work hunting aliens, the story is never going to go anywhere and our viewers will stop watching! You are aligned with the Space Protagonists (town). You win when all threats to the Space Protagonists are eliminated and at least one Space Protagonist-aligned player is still alive, or nothing can prevent the same.

[Harambey180]

GJ Varsoon, this site needs people like you. I can only appreciate the work you put into making this. Really good too cuz mods will need some guide too

[Varsoon]

From Suikoden U-Pick Mafia

(You can see at this point I was not making transparent images to use for my rolecards, which is sad, but I do love these cute little rolecards. Suikoden U-Pick was such a simpler game, role-wise.)

Spoiler: KOROKU

Ranger - Koroku

The Dog (Allied Unification Army)

Awoooo!

I want to pee on Nash. Sincerely, Cecile. Each day, you may mark a single player. They will be informed that you have marked them. Nash is avoiding me. Yours, Cecile. Each night, if you ended the day voting for any marked player, any night actions that player attempts against you will fail. Woof! Woof! You win the game when all threats to the Allied Unification Army has been defeated and at least one Allied Unification Army player is alive

[Varsoon]

GJ Varsoon, this site needs people like you. I can only appreciate the work you put into making this. Really good too cuz mods will need some guide too

<3
Thanks! I hope this guide helps some folks who are struggling to get their games off the ground. There's a pretty normal problem with players losing interest in games and a lot of that has to do with how a game is designed and moderated.

[Varsoon]

Oh, as another note on mods I like, and I'll edit this into where I answered earlier on it--I love GuyInFreezer and FakeGod's theme games.

[Varsoon]

And if we take it waaay waaay back to what's technically the first theme game I ran (although I did run a series of 'themed' 5p Vengeful games, but those didn't really have unique rolecards), here's something from Varsoon Mafia:

Spoiler: THE CAT ON VARSOON'S HEAD

Hello, Caledfwitch. Welcome to Varsoon Mafia.
You are

The Cat on Varsoon's Head

, aligned with

Village Idiots

.

You have the

Power

of

Deception

:
You are immune to all abilities as people mistakenly target a pompadour that they did not realize is actually a cat.

You win when the

Village Idiots

are the only faction with living members in the game.
You lose when the

Village Idiots

faction is wiped out or if there is nothing that can keep them from all dying.

[Varsoon]

No one will ever know how many hours I labored away in Photoshop to get all of those FFTactics rolecards to look the way they did, but, hoh boy, never ever again.
Until next time, of course.

There's just a moment where you're creating transparencies, have 10+ different images open in Photoshop, and you're using lasso tools to cut sprites from a sprite sheet to arrange onto a role card while also hoping your copycat font from the game looks good enough that you start to think, 'Surely, people will appreciate this!' Just ain't worth the effort, even if it does look nice. Find a balance between your rolecards looking appealing and being, y'know, not a laborious effort to make.

[Cerberus v666]

For the record, your FFT rolecards are the best I've ever seen. Jaw dropped when I received the first PM.

I mean, I got used to the formatting you used in Space Dandy 2/Bloodborne/SU games, but the FFT cards were just so friggin different and brought this massive wellspring of nostalgia.

Basically, if you ever do another Final Fantasy based game, and don't do something similar, I'll be really fucking sad.

[Alisae]

For the record, your FFT rolecards are the best I've ever seen. Jaw dropped when I received the first PM.

I mean, I got used to the formatting you used in Space Dandy 2/Bloodborne/SU games, but the FFT cards were just so friggin different and brought this massive wellspring of nostalgia.

Basically, if you ever do another Final Fantasy based game, and don't do something similar, I'll be really fucking sad.

There's no reward for making photoshopped role pms.
Or any photoshopped related artwork for your game.
And I do GFXing as a hobby (See, For Us, Railgun, Beneath The Mask)
It's labor for no reason.

Plus Cerby, I think you're always going to love Varsoon's games

[Venmar]

This is an A+ thread.

[MathBlade]

For the record, your FFT rolecards are the best I've ever seen. Jaw dropped when I received the first PM.

I mean, I got used to the formatting you used in Space Dandy 2/Bloodborne/SU games, but the FFT cards were just so friggin different and brought this massive wellspring of nostalgia.

Basically, if you ever do another Final Fantasy based game, and don't do something similar, I'll be really fucking sad.

Sniff

I still have the scum game with the least number of posts (A)6

I loved FFT. I just feel bad at how it ended.

[Varsoon]

For the record, your FFT rolecards are the best I've ever seen. Jaw dropped when I received the first PM.

I mean, I got used to the formatting you used in Space Dandy 2/Bloodborne/SU games, but the FFT cards were just so friggin different and brought this massive wellspring of nostalgia.

Basically, if you ever do another Final Fantasy based game, and don't do something similar, I'll be really fucking sad.

If I end up going down the dark road of adapting a video game theme again, I'll definitely be incorporating a lot of the game's iconography and font, if possible.
It did help that FFT has Active and Passive and Reactionary ability icons

This is an A+ thread.

<3 You're an A+ guy

There's no reward for making photoshopped role pms.
Or any photoshopped related artwork for your game.
And I do GFXing as a hobby (See, For Us, Railgun, Beneath The Mask)
It's labor for no reason.

Plus Cerby, I think you're always going to love Varsoon's games

I do feel that it makes the game a little more special and, if even someone who didn't play it thinks it's neat, it's worth it. I mean, heck, a lot of it's just a labor of love on my part to render the theme I like as mafia, so it's something that makes me feel good regardless of other people's validation.

[Cerberus v666]

For the record, your FFT rolecards are the best I've ever seen. Jaw dropped when I received the first PM.

I mean, I got used to the formatting you used in Space Dandy 2/Bloodborne/SU games, but the FFT cards were just so friggin different and brought this massive wellspring of nostalgia.

Basically, if you ever do another Final Fantasy based game, and don't do something similar, I'll be really fucking sad.

There's no reward for making photoshopped role pms.
Or any photoshopped related artwork for your game.
And I do GFXing as a hobby (See, For Us, Railgun, Beneath The Mask)
It's labor for no reason.

Plus Cerby, I think you're always going to love Varsoon's games

Pfft. Just because I love the game doesn't mean that I won't be comparing it to what it COULD have been if I get a pure text role card. Seriously though, you are right that it's not something with a reward(though arguably the paperback writer award should take those details into account, if it doesn't already),but it does a lot to make a game feel like a unique experience. It's not just another mafia game.

It's a Varsoon game. <3

Also...I don't think I've always 100% loved Varsoon's games. I think conceptually they've all been inspired and daring, but the execution has made some less enjoyable than others(though tbh I think only Bloodborne falls in this category, and that was mainly because Varsoon broke one of his own rules by allowing one player to remove all the agency from all the other slots).

[Alisae]

Actually I lied.
When you're Cheetory and you do paint drawings for your game as high quality memes, then yeah, there's reward for that because you KNOW your players will love that. In fact, that's the main thing your game has.

But otherwise
No reward.
Ofc, there are decent human beings like say Cerby who will admire a well done photoshopped role pm. And that in of itself is a reward sure.
But otherwise I don't think the time put into making 25 or something photoshopped role pms that are all of FFT tactic quality (This game however I'd assume it would take a lot less time since there's hardly any real change between each pm. I'm not really calling that FFT tactic quality though) is worth it.

[Venmar]

I think an active mod is very important as well; being around and making a votecount every day or every few pages is very important. I think a good rule of thumb or goal for every mod is to go through a game without a player prodding you for a votecount.

I want to say that I have adhered to everything in the OP as a mod, and I can't echo certain sentiments enough, such as being very clear with your actions and wording, being impartial to the gamestate, etc. I'd echo the need of a public mechanic the most; most of my theme games have had a public mechanic that the playerbase could take a part of and I think it's been a success. Giving people ways to contribute to the game-state is critical as far as I am concerned, whether it by voting for lynches or participating in something entirely else and wacky. Of course, mechanics aren't needed and aren't a precursor to having fun or a prerequisite for a good setup, but they can help, especially the larger the game is.

Giving information to the playerbase I think is also king and pivotal to keeping the playerbase invested; people arguing and scumhunting will do most of this for you, but, obviously, stuff like kills, clears, lynches, concise flips, etc, all add to the information and flow of a game (also why roles like Janitor are the worst there are).

[Cerberus v666]

Actually I lied.
When you're Cheetory and you do paint drawings for your game as high quality memes, then yeah, there's reward for that because you KNOW your players will love that. In fact, that's the main thing your game has.

But otherwise
No reward.
Ofc, there are decent human beings like say Cerby who will admire a well done photoshopped role pm. And that in of itself is a reward sure.
But otherwise I don't think the time put into making 25 or something photoshopped role pms that are all of FFT tactic quality (This game however I'd assume it would take a lot less time since there's hardly any real change between each pm. I'm not really calling that FFT tactic quality though) is worth it.

Were you in FFT Alisae? It was a game with a secret playerlist, and most of the town didn't reveal themselves after losing.

Those PM's...are even more of a magical thing than you realize, because every players role was constructed by a draft of different classes, so each role PM was a mishmash of different abilities that weren't able to be fully constructed in advance of the game.

[Alisae]

I think Varsoon's games are unique experiences in of themself.
I think the way he formats his role pms without photoshop is extremely unique and gives the game a unique experience in of itself since using [tables] especially COLORED tables isn't a trend that most moderators do if any.

Pedit: I wasn't.
I remember Grey/House telling me to join it but I never did.
I am VERY familiar with the role pms though.
I love them as a GFXer.