Operation Sterling [MP]

[Stardust101]

Operation Sterling

Operation Sterling is my newest mission pack. You can play it by clicking the following link: https://dyom.gtagames.nl/show/67933

Plot

San Fierro is going through hard times. The Soviet Mafia controls everything, and crime rates are higher than ever. In 1985, the citizens elected a new mayor named Patrick Sterling. He created a plan named "Operation Sterling". The objective is to get the Soviet Mafia out of San Fierro, in order to solve the city's crime problem. Only time will tell if this plan will be successful.

Protagonist

Patrick Sterling was born in San Fierro, in the year 1920. A true patriot, he always wanted to help his country. That's why he decided to join the army as a young man. As a soldier, he served his country during World War 2, and was praised for his incredible shooting abilities. After the war, he came back to San Fierro, where he lived for the next 40 years. During the 1980's, he saw San Fierro turn from a hippy paradise to a crime-ridden town. He decided to run for mayor, in order to help his country once again.  Sterling is 65 years old during the events of Operation Sterling.

 

 

 

Ha

[Target13]

Hey, I played this and would like to share my thoughts.

First off, I was very intrigued by your choice of protagonist. You didn't go with a Pete Buttigieg-esque 'youngest in the city's history' type of Mayor but rather a senior citizen, which is an interesting and funny decision as we don't see many seniors as protagonists in DYOM projects. It was the reason I downloaded this mission-pack and remains my favorite aspect of it. I think the idea to have a Mayor take matters into their own hands is very interesting and makes for a lot potential story-wise. 

 

Unfortunately however, you did not manage to capture that potential simply because of how minimalistic the story was. While I think your writing of dialogue is excellent and far better than most newcomers, your story did not have a direction. I would advise you to perhaps write and plan out your story idea in notepad or in a Word document before starting the designing process. This way you have an overview of your story from start to finish, and can always edit something if you deem it necessary. Don't hesitate to design longer missions and expand a little bit on the dialogue. Had you done this, you could have better presented the characters of the Mayor and Agent Toreno and perhaps the origins of Operation: Sterling itself. All of which were very abstract and vague in the mission-pack.

 

In terms of gameplay, this was very simplistic as well but fortunately not boring. Again don't hesitate to make your mission longer because they were incredibly short. Especially the Las Venturas missions could have been merged into one long mission. The Soviet Flame stands out to me because gameplay-wise it did something different than the other missions which strictly followed the formula of "drive there, shoot them, good job, Sterling". Also, try experimenting with objects. Especially with the use of an addon like DYOM# you can really enhance the setting and add a distinct style to your missions. Besides decoration, objects also help in gameplay because in several missions Sterling is teleported in front of a group enemies and it would have been nice to have something to use as cover.

 

Overall, I think you have greatly mastered the basics of DYOM and with practice you really have the potential to make something special. I personally would have loved to learn a little more about Sterling's personal motivation to get involved instead of sending the police, or get an idea of how the Soviet mafia came to be so powerful. I don't know if you are planning a sequel or prequel but I think with a little more planning and effort, you can really make an interesting story about Mayor Sterling. I hope this feedback is useful to you and I look forward to your future contributions to our community.

[Stardust101]

@Target13

 

Thanks for the reply! I love receiving detailed reviews like yours! I really apreciate it!

 

Honestly, I think I'm better creating story-driven Mission Packs. My dialogue is always praised, but I'm not that good at designing shootouts and gunfights. Also, you're not the first one that says my missions are short. I'll try to make bigger projects in the future.

 

Speaking about Story-Driven MPs, I heard that your pack Cowboys: The Tale of Betty Shore is more story driven than gameplay driven. I think I'll play it for inspiration!

 

Have a nice day!

[Stardust101]

On 1/15/2021 at 5:31 PM, Target13 said:

I would advise you to perhaps write and plan out your story idea in notepad or in a Word document before starting the designing process. This way you have an overview of your story from start to finish, and can always edit something if you deem it necessary.

 

Are you talking about writing a script? If so, then could you tell me how to do it? I've seen this tutorial by the Halfblood Prince: https://dyom.gtagames.nl/showtut/435

 

But I tought he was very vague. I felt that he explained scriptwriting from the perspective of a filmmaker, and not from the perspective of a DYOM Designer.

 

Writing the script for a DYOM MP is not the same as writing the script for a movie, and I would like to know how to do it. I know you write scripts for your projects, so can you give me some advice?