Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: Debug Game Start
Chapter 2: Designing Your First Town and Faction
Chapter 3: Filling Your Town With Residents
Chaper 4: Designing the Bandits
Chapter 5: Animation Design
Chapter 6: Quest Design Part 1
Chapter 7: Quest Design Part 2
Chapter 8: Finalising and Publishing
Introduction
Modding is full of questions and pitfalls – and while there are a wealth of guides to find and dig through on this website, sometimes you just want get started and see results right away.
That’s what this course is all about.
With follow-along tutorials that explain every new element meticulously you’ll never feel lost, and by the end of it, you’ll have created something pretty damn awesome.
You can read through an overview of each chapter here – though I highly recommend you start from the beginning. Things get complicated starting with Chapter 2.
Release Date
The full Crash Course – along with the dynamic quest as a playable file – is slated for release at the end of March 2023.
For now, I’ve added this in-game video that demos some of the first stuff we’re going to be working on.
Who This Is For
While designed to build knowledge from the ground-up, this crash course gets to the good stuff fast. Meant as a whistle-stop tour of FCS, the in-game editor, and the endless possibilities, the course starts slow and builds on what you learn from chapter to chapter, explaining how and why we’re approaching problems in the way we do.
We’ll add unique NPCs with new animations, dynamic quests with player agency and choice – and talk about design philosophy while we’re doing so.
Each chapter includes video material demonstrating how to do everything in real-time. There’s a linked mod file in Chapter 1 so you can see (and playtest) the final result – and you’re free to use the assets in this modding course for your own mod projects in Kenshi.
Chapter 1: Debug Game Start
A quick and eassy introductory chapter covering:
- Setting up your mod file
- Creating a new game start
- Exporting your mod for testing
Chapter 2: Designing Your First Town and Faction
Building on Chapter 1, this chapter goes into detail and outlines how the dynamic quest will work. It covers:
- The in-game editor
- Creating towns
- A quest overview
- Designing factions
- Setting up basic NPC dialogue
Chapter 3: Filling Your Town With Residents
With a focus on AI and town design, your first village is completed in this chapter. We’ll go over:
- Designing interiors
- Using residents and bar squads
- Setting up reactive AI
Chapter 4: Designing the Bandits
This chapter sums up what you’ve learned so far and you’ll repeat it in new ways to help it sink in. In addition, it covers:
- Wandering spawns
- Randomised nests
- Creating a sword mesh in Blender
Chapter 5: Animation Design
Taking a break from FCS, in this chapter we’ll learn the basics of the animation pipeline. By the end of it, you’ll have created a few new animations that help add character and life to your new factions and quests.
Optionally, this chapter may be skipped.
Chapter 6: Quest Design Part 1
With everything set up and good to go, this chapter delves into quest design and faction conflict. In particular, we’ll cover:
- Town overrides
- The basics of World States
- Dynamic and branching events
- Faction politics
Chapter 7: Quest Design Part 2
Taking things a step further, Chapter 7 sees us wrapping up our dynamic questline with more iterations and complicated systems. By the end of it, you’ll understand how to set up complete quests and world events from start to finish and understand the basics of pacing and big narrative design philosophy.
Chapter 8: Finalising and Publishing
A succinct final chapter that demonstrates how to debug, fix outlier elements, and publish your mod, with advice on continued support going forward.
The Ashland Drifter 