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I prefer building offline, so this is a lot less structured than if I were building online.
1. Think of an idea for the area.
2. Examine the world as a whole, then consider possible areas that would border the new area.
3. Find a suitable place for the new area, and start from there by smoothing from the existing area into the new area as well as possible.
4a. If area is urban or settled, conceive of basic map - streets, shops, houses, etc. Doesn't happen too often.
4b. If area is wild or unsettled, map mostly randomly, being careful to stay within certain bounds. Happens more often than not.
Here it gets messy, because then I start doing all of this at once ...
5. Write room descriptions, noting "special" rooms beforehand - a glade in a forest, a strange shrine in an otherwise featureless plain, etc. Spontaneously think of creatures and objects to put into the world; rooms lead to objects or creatures, creatures lead to objects, objects lead to creatures. Not all objects will be "useful". Think of some basic scripts for creatures. Place resets for objects while writing room descriptions; a flowery patch in the woods will have flowers that can be picked.
6. Look back over every description to make sure there aren't any spelling or grammar mistakes, and to possibly make clarifications, additions and deletions.
7. Write full scripts for creatures.
8. Grudgingly place resets for creatures and their equipment while grumbling and moaning.
9. Load up the area on the test port and walk through it with someone else to get their impressions, making changes as necessary, while checking for any bugs in scripts.
10. Link both areas, altering the old area to smooth into the new one.
11. Load up the area on the main port and watch player reaction, paying particular attention to players of the intended level for the area to see if it is too difficult or easy, making changes as necessary.
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