Getting Started

If it's your first time using Coppola, welcome! Sometimes the best way to learn about a new product is to go through the motions yourself. Below you'll find a step-by-step walkthrough on how to create a simple project in our authoring tool.

Let's gets started!

Create a New Project

1. Open up Coppola (an easy first step). It should bring you to the dashboard, as seen above. To open up the projects page, either click the hyperlinked Projects or the folder icon in the left-hand toolbar.

2. Once the project page opens, find the blue Create Project button in the upper right-hand corner. Click on it, and name your new project. You should see it appear in the table at the center of the page.

Create a New Task

1. Open your newly created project. It should look like the screenshot above: blank. Every new project will come with preset facts, actions, characters, prop types, and roles. The only tab that will be empty is Tasks.

2. You can create your own prop types and roles, but for the sake of this walkthrough, we will be working with what already exists.

1. Let's begin by creating a brand new task. Click on the blue Create task button, and we'll name the task something easy to decipher. As you build out a new project, you're going to collect a lot of tasks, so the better your naming conventions, the easier it is to find what you're looking for. For this walkthrough we'll name it Farmer Chores.

   1. The way we look at it is that a task is a unit of work that a character or a cast of characters must accomplish, but it does not specify how it will be accomplished. Task methods will answer the how question, which is what we'll do next.

   2. As an example, a task is like a goal or objective. "Defend the village" or "gather resources" are both objectives that specify what is to be done but not how they will be done.

Create a Task Method: Weed the Field

A look at the complete task method.

1. The new task will be completely blank. Find the plus (+) next to Task Methods on the left-hand side of the page. When you click the + a blank field should appear. Let's give the task method a name, shall we? Let's name the first method Weed the Field.

2. A task method can be understood as a concrete recipe or strategy for accomplishing a specific task. One task method is associated with exactly one task and defines a specific way to fulfill the task's objective. Any one task can have multiple task methods, as there are often many ways in which you can accomplish an objective. Methods have a sequence of method steps that are used to define the individual actions required to complete the method.

3. Using the "gather resources" example we chose above, you might have a task method called "Collect Water from the Well" and another called "Collect Water from the Stream". Both accomplish the objective of gathering resources but with slightly different variations.

1. Now that we have our first task method named, we'll add individual steps to define exactly how the objective will be met. Add Step and then open the drop-down in the window that appeared on the right side of your screen. The drop down contains all of the actions registered to your project. You can see the list of them here as well as in the Actions tab on the main project page.

2. From the drop-down find Weed. You can either scroll through the list, or type the nameof the action.

3. Once the action is chosen you will see a series of other fields appear. These fields are mandatory so the planner will know how a task should be executed. For Weed we'll need an Instigator, an object, and a surface.

   1. The instigator is the character carrying out the action. We'll be using the farmer.

   2. The object will be what is being weeded, i.e. the field in this case.

   3. The surface will also be the entity the instigator weeds. In our existing props, you will find a field.

4. BUT, before we can choose the field or the Farmer, we need to establish task parameters.

   1. Parameters allow us to have more than one character tied to a role AND more than one object tied to the same prop type, i.e. a farm would likely have many fields, rather than just one.

1. When you click into the surface field, you should see Create new task parameter in the drop-down. Clicking on it will open the modal above. We'll fill out the fields in the following manner:

   1. Enter task parameter name... | Field 1

   2. Parameter type | PROP_TYPE (this stays as is)

   3. Select Prop Type | Field

2. Once you hit Create your new task parameter can be found in the drop-down. Assign it to Surface

3. We're going to go through the same motions for Instigator. Click on the drop-down and choose Create new task parameter. The fill out the fields accordingly:

   1. Enter task parameter name... | Farmer 1

   2. Parameter type | ROLE (this stays as is)

   3. Select Prop Type | Farmer

4. Assign your new task parameter to Instigator, and then save your changes. You now have a task that tells the farmer how to weed the field!

Create a Task Method: Seed the Field

A look at the complete task method.

1. Before we finish we're going to add another task method. Click the + next to Task Methods and name this method Seed Field.

2. Add a new step to the method and choose Pick Up as your action. Two fields should appear: object and instigator. The instigator will be the Farmer for whom we already have a task parameter. The object will be a bucket.

3. To make a new task parameter for the bucket, click the drop down and choose Create new task parameter. Fill out the fields as follows:

   1. Enter task parameter name... | Bucket

   2. Parameter type | PROP_TYPE (this stays as is)

   3. Select Prop Type | Bucket

4. Add Bucket to the Object field and Farmer to the Instigator field, and then save your changes. The first step in your method is done! Now to add the subsequent steps.

5. Click the black + beneath your existing step, and choose Seed as your action. Three new fields will appear: surface, object, and instigator. The farmer will seed the field using the bucket, so all three task parameters already exist.

1. Fill out the step, it should look like the above, and then save your changes.

2. Now onto our third and final step! The farmer has seeded the field, and now should put the bucket back down. Create a new step and assign Put Down as the action.

3. You can either have the Farmer put the bucket down on the field OR we can have them place it down on the ground, which will require a new parameter. For the sake of the walkthrough, let's create a new parameter for the surface.

   1. Name the parameter Ground and choose Ground from the prop list.

1. Fill out each of the fields until it looks like the above. Save your changes, and you're done!

Next Steps...

1. You have successful created content that can be used in Unreal! To use the content in your gameplay, you'll need to build new domain assets in Unreal. You can find instructions on how to do that here.