Ok so I feel I've had enough experience with the Release Dungeon Maker at this point I can start to go into some of the current shorfalls with designing, and express some needs outside of the common ones with for example, conversations, outdoor areas, and merchants.
Its no secret that most of my modules are influenced by Classic D&D modules from 1st edition. For example:
Temple of Evil on Witch Mountain: Was designed using the 1st level of the Temple of Elemental Evil, based on encounter schemes, mood, and atmosphere. It creates a very authentic feeling substitute.
Secret of the Black Flame: Was designed based on Balton's Beacon and the Cult of the Black Flame and creates a convincing substitute.
Halls of the Ogre Lord: Obviously was based on the Against the Giants series of Classic Modules but redone with Ogres.
Expedition to the Grand Crevasse: Was based on Dwellers of the Forbidden City, Desert of Desolation series, and Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan,
Now, the good thing about designing like this is that in attempting to create certain moods/feels, styles of modules, you get to see what can and cannot be created currently in the toolset. I was not and did not attempt to create these as verbatim copies of those modules, only to give the same feel or mood or similarity of Play.
So for example:
I could not create any kind of magical flame, like the "Black Flame" from Baltron's Beacon because I could not tint the flame on a brazier black. I could not close secret doors either with a switch or floor panel. Could not create the Artificial Darkness cloud in the Hallway that disguised the Shrine.
I could not design many boss mob fights so there is no "Ogre Lord" since I could not rename a normal Ogre or boost its levels or hit points. Instead I had to do something cheezy like use the Arrok Mob in the Dungeon Maker to "represent" him.
I could not even rename Arrok to something different to at least give him the "Ogre Lord" title as this is a "Boss Mob" level bad guy in the toolset. Nor could I change the model to make him look like an ogre.
I did not have an environment that looked like a large log cabin, so could not create a "Steading" for Ogre Lord which would have fit the use of Ogres much better, with or without the links to the Giant's series.
Since there is no verticality I cannot create the area required for Expedition to the Grand Crevasse where the players are climbing up or down a sheer cliff face or have to to get to the other caves along the Crevasse. I got around this with creativity, but it is a shortfall.
In Expedition to the Grand Crevasse I could not rename the "Soraks" to a different kind of monster that I had created, and the Lore of the Soraks from the official campaign is too advanced for the creatures I intended to portray. They are completely different. I intended to portray a genetically manipulated Lizard Man, who was too primative to have an advanced culture. Ergo I wanted to rename them to something that was not "Sorr Akath".
There are no Demons or Devils in the Toolset, so when I had to make a "Demon" for the Final Encounter in Temple of Evil on Witch Mountain... I could not rename a Remorhaz Offspring to something different, even though the base creature itself would have easily sufficed to make a convincing demon or Abyssal Creature.
There are no "Lit up Windows" other than the Elven Ruins tileset, so in the Stronghold tileset, I could not create a situation like you did in the Official Campaign with Light Beaming through the windows in the Akasha Fight. This type of placable is much needed for that, as is a "Light from the ceiling" placable like you see in the Orc Caverns area in the Official Campaign Tutorial.
There are not enough high level mobs for creating a convincing Dungeon for a 9th-10th level adventure that would be challenging for that level of party. Most of the Human Mobs levels cannot be adjusted so even though I could create something believable with them, they are too low of level to challenge the party, I would be left without an actual hook or at least a convincing one not linked to the Official Campaign Lore the way the Sorr Akath are.
No snow environment for the Remorhaz, since that is their actual habitat, so using the creature in a module means they're out of place under that name.
Now obviously I've still been able to for the most part overcome these deficiencies as all those modules were very successful on their own right. But I did have to cut out large parts due to a lot of these deficiencies.
Now I'll go into the New Things that have had me hitting brick walls.
For the new one I'm trying to design an Against the Slavers series style module, but already ran into some stopping points.
I was able to create a base level of "Slave Pits of the Undercity" with the Stronghold Tileset.... that was easy but... what the Dungeon Maker does not allow you to do is create a "courtyard" per se. Two areas in that require that. One is a small area where there is a small outdoor "courtyard" with a mauseleum in the middle of it that is actually hollowed out and has a stairway to the lower levels.
I COULD in theory create something like that IF the Placables or Props were not unique to each Tileset, as I could use a Mauseleum from the Crypt Tileset... AND I would need that "Overhead Outdoors Light Beam" from above Prop like you see in the Official Campaign Tutorial Orc Cave Portion. AND IF there were Props like an outdoor plants WITH say a "Carpet" style Prop that looks like dirt or earth based. And I could make it look pretty convincing like its an outdoor courtyard in the middle of the Stronghold Tileset.
There is no Sewers Tileset...
I COULD in theory create something like that if I used either the Stronghold Tileset OR the Necropolis tileset.... WITH say "water placables" or props. I could put along the side and create a situation with other placables where players could not walk on them. It could create a convincing "Sewer" style environment.
Obviously I don't expect an Aspis Monster or a Sundew. But If I wanted to create a similar style to that with the similar theme I could at least attempt it with Spiders, and the egg placables in the caverns. It would just look out of place and would not be akin to the Aspis who are an intelligent insect style monster the Slavers are working with. I could in theory rename a Remorhaz Offspring monster to give an "Insect like" monster and use the egg props for the spiders to recreate a similar theme... but... that would require renaming the Remorhaz... which is why renaming the Monsters is really crucial as it extends the totality of what you can do.
LAST BUT NOT LEAST:
Because there are no actual NPCs in the game, I cannot create a "Rescue the Prisoners/Slaves" scenario in any meaningful way, EVEN though at this time the Devs HAVE left us with actual Cage/Prison style props that can be set up... unfortunately there's nothing to put in them to rescue.


