7. Playtest! You aren't going to get it right the first time, especially if you've scripted events with any complexity. Your timing will be off, or your invasions will be too large or too small, or your economic events will be either trivial or crushing. Play your mission through, then edit out your mistakes. After editing, play it again. Repeat this process until it finally unfolds the way you intend. Then, find at least one playtester, and ask him or her to play through it "blind", without knowing what to expect. If you're really serious about creating excellent missions, you will repeat the testing and editing process with as many players as possible, until you start to see uniform results.

We spent many, many hundreds of hours playtesting Pharaoh's missions and filling out report sheets until we were satisfied with them - and even then, they weren't all perfect. It's impossible to spend too much time testing and balancing.

These principles are, of course, just free advice, which is often worth what you paid for it. If you have a great idea that doesn't fit with what you just read, go for it! A fresh idea goes a lot farther than a formula does.

As I write this, the Pharaoh Mission Editor has only been available for a couple of weeks, and player-created missions are just starting to appear on the Internet. Soon enough, though, there will be hundreds of missions available for download. If you keep this list of general principles in mind, yours is more likely to rise above average.

Never forget that Pharaoh is a game, and the point of games is to have fun. Don't be intimidated or think that you have to dazzle people with originality and creativity. If you enjoy making your mission and are proud of the result, others will probably enjoy playing it.

Besides being the Producer in charge of Pharaoh's campaign, I made six Pharaoh missions of my own. Previously, I created maps or missions for Caesar III, Civil War Generals 2 and Lords of the Realm 2.