New: Ooze Mini-Campaign

Discussion and development of scenarios and campaigns for the game.

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SpenceLack
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Joined: January 22nd, 2007, 4:29 am

Re: New: Ooze Mini-Campaign

Post by SpenceLack »

Updated to version 1.2.6.

This fixes two minor bugs with gold rewards from 1.2.5.

I also fixed a few typos and gave Captain Koltz a death speech. And...
Darkaros wrote:Finished a playthrough on the DAY that mich uploaded it to 1.6, I really did want to play this for a while.

Well, anyway, is it on purpose for the Master Ooze Shaman to level up into the old sprites of Sorceress, Enchantress, ect instead of the mainline versions? This happened on 1.6.

Minor nitpick: the Master Ooze's base traits (Strong and Intelligent) are a pretty good way to differentiate him from the other Giant Oozes, but I think it would be nicer if he had Strong and Dextrous, because Intelligent doesn't do much when you're fighting level zero units and one AMLA doesn't help much.
I used the old elf sorceress sprites only because I liked them better. I do seem to be in minority on this though.

As for giving the the Master Ooze the intelligent trait, you're absolutely right. I originally put it there just for flavor, but thinking about it...since the intelligent trait is useless in the two scenarios you've got it and it can't carry over to your Solid form anyway...I decided to replace it in 1.2.6 with the resilient trait which players should find much more useful.

Your feedback is much appreciated!
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Luke the Flaming
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Re: New: Ooze Mini-Campaign

Post by Luke the Flaming »

SpenceLack wrote:As for giving the the Master Ooze the intelligent trait, you're absolutely right. I originally put it there just for flavor, but thinking about it...since the intelligent trait is useless in the two scenarios you've got it and it can't carry over to your Solid form anyway...
You can make it "inheritable" (I liked the flavour of Master Ooze being intelligent): [store_unit] at the end of scenario II and have the Sorceress in scenario III starts with experience=stored_unit.experience (unless you think that having the Sorceress with so much experience is bad for the balance of the scenario... in which case you could halve - or use any percentage you feel right - the inherited experience, or maybe alter the max_experience of the Sorceress making it higher... after all, she has only one "level up" to do in all the campaign, so it can't be too bad if it is difficult to achieve).
Thanks for updating this cool mini-campaign, in any case!
O, Wind, if Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
ydcl
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Joined: December 22nd, 2008, 2:10 pm

Re: New: Ooze Mini-Campaign

Post by ydcl »

Hi, I've finished and I must say, I loved it ! Congratulations, for the nice job, and I hope, you go ahead !
Thanks
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hhyloc
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Re: New: Ooze Mini-Campaign

Post by hhyloc »

Hey, this campaign quite good!
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noob123
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Re: New: Ooze Mini-Campaign

Post by noob123 »

Just came to say that this is an awesome campaign. Very original, very enjoyable and with satisfying ending to boot. Congratulations!
SpenceLack
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Joined: January 22nd, 2007, 4:29 am

Re: New: Ooze Mini-Campaign

Post by SpenceLack »

Version 1.2.7 has been put on the stable add-on server.

This is the biggest update in a while. The best change is that the player now has infinite movement on the RPG level. Yay, ease of movement!!!

Also fixed was an annoying bug in level 2 that caused the AI to be very timid.

As usual, please let me know if you find any bugs or have feedback.

I'm currently alpha testing a sequel to this campaign. I should have the beta out on the dev sever in a week or two.

The complete changelog:

v1.2.7:

Scenario 1:
Fixed the misflagged village at 6, 29.
Fixed obsolete AI for all AI sides.
Converted all die events to last breath events.
Fixed a bug where the villagers did not discuss the presence of oozes if you initiated hostilities.
If you take too long the goblins now recruit Rousers, not Impalers. Impalers were too tough given that it's an underground map.
Got rid of outdated continue endlevel event.
Put more light hexes by the cave entrance.

Scenario 2:
Fixed the outdated enemy AI.
Removed an extra space after the word "bizarre" in dialogue.
Hid the Forest Heart on turn 1.
Fixed it so the Elvish Sylph and militia are facing the player.
Got rid of outdated continue endlevel event.
Got rid of the superfluous Heart Wose unit.

Scenario 3:
Implemented infinite moves for your character. No more tedious clicking on the End Turn button, yay!
If you don't have enough money to buy Dryden's ring you can now come back later rather than getting an unfavorable outcome to the quest. Also if you express disinterest in the quest initially you can now come back later to do it.
The archery and drinking contests have had a third option added so that a player may win regardless of the traits they chose at the beginning of the scenario (previously this was not the case).
Got rid of outdated continue endlevel event.
Changed the facing of half the townspeople.

Scenario 4:
Die events were replaced with last breath events.
"Revelation" soundtrack now only plays for a few turns. I replaced it with "The City Falls" and "Legends of the North" which are much more fitting and epic.

Units:
Increased damage of baby spider by 1.
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boru
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Re: New: Ooze Mini-Campaign

Post by boru »

Never played this one before. It's a lot of fun.

My only comment is, it's a bit too easy to kill the quintains simply using the slow attack, and risking no damage. The quintains advanced on me, but never hit during their turn. I'm not sure if that's how a magical quintain would behave in real life, but it seemed a bit too easy.

Arena combat might be a little too expensive. At least it felt that way, although I had plenty of gold by the end of the campaign.
“It is written in my life-blood, such as that is, thick or thin; and I can no other.” - J.R.R. Tolkien

My campaign: Swamplings - Four centuries before the founding of Wesnoth, the first wolf rider emerges from a tribe of lowly swamp goblins.
Groggy_Dice
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Re: New: Ooze Mini-Campaign

Post by Groggy_Dice »

You probably didn't take notice of a topic I started a week ago, having to do with wmllint, but I mentioned that I'd spotted several places in your first scenario where you'd apparently transposed the T and I in MULTIPLAYER, making MULITPLAYER. (See point 3, on undefined ifdefs.) http://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=37786

Your campaign is pretty popular (though I don't know how many people play that scenario multiplayer), so I hope this gets fixed.
Ports:
Prudence (Josh Roby) | By the Sword (monochromatic) | The Eight of Cembulad (Lintana~ & WYRMY)
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UMC Timeline (Dec) | List of Unported UMC (Dec) | wmllint++ (Feb)
SpenceLack
Posts: 64
Joined: January 22nd, 2007, 4:29 am

Re: New: Ooze Mini-Campaign

Post by SpenceLack »

Thank you everyone for all the feedback!

I'm officially handing this campaign over to Wesbane. He's a master with WML and he has actually already been maintaining the campaign for quite some time.

So I'll say goodbye, good luck, and good gaming to you all!

-Spencelack
BrettTurner
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Re: New: Ooze Mini-Campaign

Post by BrettTurner »

1. What version of BfW did you play this campaign/scenario on?

BfW 1.11.1. Don't see an ooze version number, but it was the current version on the addon server.

2. What difficulty level did you select to play the campaign on? (easy/normal/hard)

Only one choice.

3. How difficult did you find the campaign/scenario? (1-10)

Campaign was 6-7 until the last scenario, which was a 20.


4. How clear did you find the objectives on the campaign/scenario? (1-10)

Clear.


5. Was there a bug in the campaign/scenario?

No, I think it worked as intended, but . . .


6. Which (if any) changes should be made to make the gamplay more fun?

I admit I lean toward easier scenarios, but the last scenario in this campaign was ridiculous. It's not only that it's hard, it's MUCH harder than anything else in the campagin, with no warning. Yes, I recruited pretty much everything from the roleplaying scenario before it. A pretty fun little campaign, very different from most others, but the last scenario needs to be toned down---or maybe just an easier version for those of us who aren't Wesnoth whizzes.


7. Was it too short/long enough?

The campaign is kind of short.


8. What (if any) changes should be made to make the story more interesting?

Story is fine. Last scenario has problems.
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Wesbane
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Re: New: Ooze Mini-Campaign

Post by Wesbane »

BrettTurner wrote:Don't see an ooze version number, but it was the current version on the addon server.
Unfortunately now the only way to check what version you've got is to use add-on menu in 1.11 or go to campaign folder and open _info.cfg file. Latest published version is 1.4.0 and that is probably it.
BrettTurner wrote: I admit I lean toward easier scenarios, but the last scenario in this campaign was ridiculous. It's not only that it's hard, it's MUCH harder than anything else in the campagin, with no warning. Yes, I recruited pretty much everything from the roleplaying scenario before it. A pretty fun little campaign, very different from most others, but the last scenario needs to be toned down---or maybe just an easier version for those of us who aren't Wesnoth whizzes.
Sure, last scenario is significantly harder than others, but that could be expected for grand final. When CIB was maintaining campaign he came up with an idea of turning it into multiplayer one and removed all difficulty levels. Since that time single player difficulty wasn't altered much. The only difference is that in last scenario enemies in certain circumstances can recruit at the end of a game. What isn't a problem due to low probability of occurrence. Multiplayer mode difficulty is slightly higher than single mode.
During past five years no one has posted anything about balance. From my own experience I find whole campaign really easy including last scenario. The only problem with it is that its difficulty depends entirely on results of previous level. Still not a big deal since player has superior position over ai. Has access to villages, gold, advanced types of units, recruits and poison. Also there is no time pressure. Of course it is possible to level up master ooze and give away all possessed gold in previous scenario, but that is unlikely to happen unless on purpose. Most players tend to take every advantage offered in game.
If something need to be changed following conditions must be met.
  • 1. There must be hard evidence of situation and easy way to reproduce it. That is start scenario save and replay. In this case Pinewood_Siege.gz and Pinewood_Siege_replay.gz
    2. It should be proven to be common way of playing. That is other players should also second this statement.
So, currently chances for balance adjusting are small, but if you want to make it a little bigger you can just attach your saves to previous post using edit button. If you would happen to have them till now.
Last edited by Wesbane on December 31st, 2013, 8:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Crow_T
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Re: New: Ooze Mini-Campaign

Post by Crow_T »

getting an error

Code: Select all

MP synchronization does not work during prestart and start events.
and crash while playing MP at the start of pinewood- after about 3 lines of dialogue me and my co-player get booted back to the lobby. I'm on 1.10.7 and he's on 1.10.6, will that make it happen? Tried restarting from previous last working turn, still crashed.
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Wesbane
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Re: New: Ooze Mini-Campaign

Post by Wesbane »

Crow_T wrote:I'm on 1.10.7 and he's on 1.10.6, will that make it happen?
No. There is no possible way that this was caused by differences between stable release revisions. That is why it is stable. Message you have quoted clearly indicates that this is because of changing game state in start event which is not allowed.
Quick correction was made to solve this and several other bugs in multiplayer (version 1.4.0a). So you may want to give it another try.

Thanks for detailed bug report.
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Altex
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Re: New: Ooze Mini-Campaign

Post by Altex »

I just finished this lovely little campaign in single player, and thought I'd give my feedback. I've only played it through once (and chose the "good alignment" ending), but I'll probably do so again in single and multiplayer some time.

BfW Version: 1.10.4
Difficulty selected: there weren't difficulty choices, which I actually appreciate.
Difficulty experienced: 6/10
Clarity of objectives: very clear
Bugs:
  • Not sure if bug or feature but the RPG scenario came off as only marginally challenging, as I couldn't run out of "time" and finished every quest, so the "limited time" thing didn't lead to any player decisions or tradeoffs.
  • Some popup/conversation messages are basically duplicates if played in single player.
  • Not sure if this can be fixed easily but replays do not save correctly. I wanted to post a replay of how I approached the last scenario for people who found it too difficult, but when played it starts out in the forest of the previous map and then crashed. I upload a save of my last turn and a replay saved from it.
Suggested changes: None.
Length: Very short, but it felt just right.

IMO this campaign is at the same time "good Wesnoth play" and very unusual. And I really enjoyed the plot, dialogue, and flavor text! The "sea of ooze" gameplay in the first scenarios is actually quite interesting. Unlike some other campaign-specific mechanics I've seen elsewhere it doesn't feel like a complete gimmick (not useless and not entirely imba). It's fun to be the one with the mass of inferior units for a change and then to slowly absorb everyone else. The last scenario is a bit more "classic Wesnoth" but with some nice twists.

A nice variety of unusual and usual game mechanics in a tiny campaign, all tied together with unusually good writing and memorable characters. :D
Attachments
20131228_Altex_Pinewood_Siege_Turn_25.gz
For anyone who finds the last scenario too hard: it becomes much easier if you approach it like this. I kept my two forces seperate as it really simplifies XP/HP management, camped the crap out of the orcs while rotating units at the river, focussed XP on only certain units, poisoned Brock's weapons, and kept a few units behind as reserves that caught the nagas.
(67.32 KiB) Downloaded 367 times
20131228_Altex_Pinewood_Siege_replay.gz
(40.77 KiB) Downloaded 398 times
20131228_Altex_Pinewood_Siege_Turn_35.gz
(71.47 KiB) Downloaded 379 times
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Wesbane
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Re: New: Ooze Mini-Campaign

Post by Wesbane »

Thank you for detailed feedback.

Most of things you have reported as bugs are caused by fact that you played in multiplayer mode although on single machine controlling both player sides. Attached save files left no doubts on that. Whenever you choose to play multiplayer game it is always a multiplayer one. The only difference is that you will never experience out of sync bugs even if they exist, because you play on one machine. If you want to try campaign mode just choose campaign and pick Ooze Mini Campaign from campaign list. In single player there is only one player controlled side (Master Ooze).
Altex wrote:Not sure if bug or feature but the RPG scenario came off as only marginally challenging, as I couldn't run out of "time" and finished every quest, so the "limited time" thing didn't lead to any player decisions or tradeoffs.
Number of quests you can accept is limited, time is not. The message at beginning of scenario makes that clear.
In this scenario time is unlimited, but there is a limited number of quests you can accept. Your character will warn you when this event happens.
This limit is per leader. Master Ooze and Master Ooze 2. Reason behind this feature is not to give a challenge but to prevent the situation in which one player would collect all of the characters in that level when other would have none or very few of them. Also note that because of mentioned twists in last scenario that might be a difference who is on your side.
Altex wrote:Some popup/conversation messages are basically duplicates if played in single player.
Both players in multiplayer will see all displayed messages even those not on their turn. This game behavior is to keep them updated on what is happening. However since there is a lot of messages in this campaign other player may choose to just hit escape rather then clicking through all the dialogue. That is why messages about game rules are repeated in second player turn.
Altex wrote:Not sure if this can be fixed easily but replays do not save correctly. I wanted to post a replay of how I approached the last scenario for people who found it too difficult, but when played it starts out in the forest of the previous map and then crashed. I upload a save of my last turn and a replay saved from it.
I agree that having a working replay for multiplayer campaigns would be great. Unfortunately it can be fixed only for development version of a game (11.8 and later). Anyway it won't happen anytime soon.
This what you have provided looks like a really nice battle although it is impossible to watch as replay.
Altex wrote:I've only played it through once (and chose the "good alignment" ending), but I'll probably do so again in single and multiplayer some time.
Regarding third scenario and network game there is a glitch under 1.11, which may occur also under 1.10. When one player will decide to end his ventures in that scenario earlier he will still have to close displayed messages manually in order to allow his turn to end automatically. Also the fact of auto ending turn seemed to crash the game upon starting new level on machine of player who ended scenario first. However he can rejoin the game and continue normally. So, under this circumstances it might be better to temporarily droid side of a player who wants to end level earlier at least for fights on the arena to reduce number of required clicks on his side.
Altex wrote:[...] unusually good writing and memorable characters.
All credits for that goes to SpenceLack who, unfortunately, left wesnoth.
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