A Gryphon's Tale (BfW1.8)

Discussion and development of scenarios and campaigns for the game.

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Anonymissimus
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A Gryphon's Tale (BfW1.8)

Post by Anonymissimus »

It's on the server.

I'm still looking for (possible) additional files - it seems that the original author Ringcaat had added at least one additional scenario. This version is based on the version from the 1.0 add-ons server and has 12 scenarios (up to 10b_Retaliation.cfg and 11a_Farcel_bironze.cfg).

I will certainly not add anything to this campaign (other than bugfixing and possible old files). It is in principle free for someone who wants to take it over and really work on it.

I don't have the time to really playtest this campaign, I've only debugged through it quickly, so report bugs or other issues here. But it should be quite playable.
projects (BfW 1.12):
A Simple Campaign: campaign draft for wml startersPlan Your Advancements: mp mod
The Earth's Gut: sp campaignSettlers of Wesnoth: mp scenarioWesnoth Lua Pack: lua tags and utils
updated to 1.8 and handed over: A Gryphon's Tale: sp campaign
SkeleRanger
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Re: A Gryphon's Tale (BfW1.8)

Post by SkeleRanger »

This was the very first add-on I ever downloaded, back in 1.0.6 I think. That was where I first learned WML. Ahh, memories...
Nice to see it back up and running. :)
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sur.nhm
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Re: A Gryphon's Tale (BfW1.8)

Post by sur.nhm »

just downloaded it... and the sprites seem like v1.0... nostalgic, but really needs replacing.
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Turuk
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Re: A Gryphon's Tale (BfW1.8)

Post by Turuk »

sur.nhm wrote:just downloaded it... and the sprites seem like v1.0... nostalgic, but really needs replacing.
I would imagine because that is when the campaign was first created, and thus he has been unable to get anyone to make new sprites...
Mainline Maintainer: AOI, DM, NR, TB and THoT.
UMC Maintainer: Forward They Cried, A Few Logs, A Few More Logs, Start of the War, and Battle Against Time
Anonymissimus
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Re: A Gryphon's Tale (BfW1.8)

Post by Anonymissimus »

sur.nhm wrote:just downloaded it... and the sprites seem like v1.0... nostalgic, but really needs replacing.
From what I had read before trying the campaign I was expecting the sprites to be a lot worse than they are. Surely better than anything I could create. ;)
None will make new images here unless the campaign is complete code-wise, so first we need someone who'll do this (I won't).
I guess making good sprites for a unit, with the animation images and all, is almost as much an effort as writing several good scenarios...
I've tried to get the best out of the existing sprites, though. The animations were using "old-human-hit" as sounds which I've replaced with the standard gryphon hit sound and such...
projects (BfW 1.12):
A Simple Campaign: campaign draft for wml startersPlan Your Advancements: mp mod
The Earth's Gut: sp campaignSettlers of Wesnoth: mp scenarioWesnoth Lua Pack: lua tags and utils
updated to 1.8 and handed over: A Gryphon's Tale: sp campaign
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Yojimbo252
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Re: A Gryphon's Tale (BfW1.8)

Post by Yojimbo252 »

Well after your feedback on my Goblin scenario I downloaded A Gryphon's Tale so as to provide some feedback. Firstly let me point out that my comments may be a little biased because I only played the first 3 scenarios and didn't really enjoy it. That's not to say it's badly written or anything like that but I'm not into puzzle type games and that's what I found the opening 3 to be.

What I might do is hack the _main.cfg file to place me at the first 'battle' scenario (presumably 05_Orcish_attack) and then play it from there.

As far as feedback on the first 3:

01_Capture_the_Flag is very easy on MEDIUM but impossible on HARD. Perhaps it's just me but I must have attempted around 10 games on HARD but still couldn't win. One frustrating aspect is it's not apparent to the player what will trigger the lead Gryphon of the opposing side to become mobile and when it does you have no hope no matter how well you were doing up until then and all you can do is restart and hope it doesn't move in the next game. I'm not big on gotchya's like that.

Despite working out that you have to pin the opposing Gryph's into a tight group I found you still can't take enough villages on the final turn to win without releasing the pin which allows them to retake enough to deny you the victory as they always move last.

Out of interest has anyone else managed to beat this scenario on HARD?


02_Zolpha_Hunt needs to be spiced up a bit. This was a pretty straight forward look for anything unusual, check it out and then simply locate and attack the Zolpha.


03_Canyon_Race has way too much dialogue and I lost interest about half way through. The problem is if you miss the clue then you've got no chance of winning. I'd suggest this needs to be scaled right down to be more concise and to the point otherwise you run the risk that players like me will simply quit the campaign right there.

Also just a general note about the language. I think slang and modern clichés need to be replaced with something a bit more 'authentic' to place the player in that period.

Phrases like:

"Hey, it's no big deal"
"Get it in gear"
"Yeah, seriously"
"...it only has so much juice in it..."
"This place gives me a rush"
"This place is awesome"
"Freaky"
"You're kidding"

give me the feeling I'm playing a Grand Theft Auto scenario rather than something out of what Wesnoth represents.

Just as a final note there's some very clever and interesting use of objectives and so on so the original author ought to be commended for that. If I come across as critical, again that's simply because these types of scenarios aren't my cup of tea so please take my comments with a pinch of salt.
Against The Frontier - A Goblin based Scenario (Comments and feedback most appreciated)
Anonymissimus
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Re: A Gryphon's Tale (BfW1.8)

Post by Anonymissimus »

Thanks for playing and feedback.
Yojimbo252 wrote:What I might do is hack the _main.cfg file to place me at the first 'battle' scenario (presumably 05_Orcish_attack) and then play it from there.
Yes that's the first standard fight, although you've got to fight in the previous scenario, too.
01_Capture_the_Flag is very easy on MEDIUM but impossible on HARD. Perhaps it's just me but I must have attempted around 10 games on HARD but still couldn't win. One frustrating aspect is it's not apparent to the player what will trigger the lead Gryphon of the opposing side to become mobile and when it does you have no hope no matter how well you were doing up until then and all you can do is restart and hope it doesn't move in the next game.
I needed several trials on EASY until I came anywhere near to a victory. :) Sounds like the 1.8 ai behaves differently on this scenario, too.

I generally hesitate to make big changes and try to keep the campaign the way the original author would have wanted...just as he could suddenly "rise from the dead" and complain in this thread...
The dialogs should come to the point more quickly yes...
projects (BfW 1.12):
A Simple Campaign: campaign draft for wml startersPlan Your Advancements: mp mod
The Earth's Gut: sp campaignSettlers of Wesnoth: mp scenarioWesnoth Lua Pack: lua tags and utils
updated to 1.8 and handed over: A Gryphon's Tale: sp campaign
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Yojimbo252
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Re: A Gryphon's Tale (BfW1.8)

Post by Yojimbo252 »

Anonymissimus wrote:I generally hesitate to make big changes and try to keep the campaign the way the original author would have wanted...just as he could suddenly "rise from the dead" and complain in this thread...
Fair enough. I wasn't sure how far you were aiming to go in terms of changes so I just thought I'd throw those comments out there and then let you decide what you want to do with them.
Against The Frontier - A Goblin based Scenario (Comments and feedback most appreciated)
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Turuk
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Re: A Gryphon's Tale (BfW1.8)

Post by Turuk »

Anonymissimus wrote:I generally hesitate to make big changes and try to keep the campaign the way the original author would have wanted...just as he could suddenly "rise from the dead" and complain in this thread...
I do want to note to you that this campaign has not been dead and abandoned for weeks or months, with you taking it over so that it doesn't fall by the wayside. It's been abandoned for years, so I am sure that it would be just fine if you made some changes in order to improve it as you see fit.
Mainline Maintainer: AOI, DM, NR, TB and THoT.
UMC Maintainer: Forward They Cried, A Few Logs, A Few More Logs, Start of the War, and Battle Against Time
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Yojimbo252
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Re: A Gryphon's Tale (BfW1.8)

Post by Yojimbo252 »

Not sure if it's a case of I just suck but I tried scenario 05_Orcish_attack on MEDIUM and it is rediculously hard. I've failed twice now but will give it a try on EASY. One of the main problems is your AI team mate throws his units away during unfavourable times and then you're left trying to beat the 3 Orc enemies single handedly whilst also trying to protect your allies leader from dying.

Would be nice to hear other players comments just to gauge the level of difficulty.
Against The Frontier - A Goblin based Scenario (Comments and feedback most appreciated)
Anonymissimus
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Re: A Gryphon's Tale (BfW1.8)

Post by Anonymissimus »

The difficulty was OK when I played that scenario on easy and 1.6, although it was rather hard for "easy" I think. Won on first trial.
Have you used the "falling rocks" ? When moving zolphas into the middle of the towers, the sand areas around them are covered with cavewall, causing every unit that's there (friend or foe) to die, and making the middle passage easier to defend. That's why I recommend reading the walkthrough included in the scenario files.

@Turuk
Well...then there's still the problem that I don't want to/can't do much about this campaign. Not enough time, and I want to work on my other campaign. I'd prefer to hand it over maybe to someone who's played wesnoth for some time now, likes this campaign and wants to try wml. The campaign is in good shape now and its wml is simple compared with many other user-made campaigns. Starting with an existing campaign is easier than writing an own one.
The story isn't complete, it ceases after the last two scenarios (2 branches). One may start with updating the maps, since they only use 1.0 terrain until now.
projects (BfW 1.12):
A Simple Campaign: campaign draft for wml startersPlan Your Advancements: mp mod
The Earth's Gut: sp campaignSettlers of Wesnoth: mp scenarioWesnoth Lua Pack: lua tags and utils
updated to 1.8 and handed over: A Gryphon's Tale: sp campaign
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Turuk
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Re: A Gryphon's Tale (BfW1.8)

Post by Turuk »

Anonymissimus wrote:@Turuk
Well...then there's still the problem that I don't want to/can't do much about this campaign. Not enough time, and I want to work on my other campaign. I'd prefer to hand it over maybe to someone who's played wesnoth for some time now, likes this campaign and wants to try wml. The campaign is in good shape now and its wml is simple compared with many other user-made campaigns. Starting with an existing campaign is easier than writing an own one.
The story isn't complete, it ceases after the last two scenarios (2 branches). One may start with updating the maps, since they only use 1.0 terrain until now.
Well then, if someone wants to pick it up, they will do so, otherwise... I would not worry too much about it. The nature of authors coming and going means that campaigns eventually get lost, particularly from one stable to the next.
Mainline Maintainer: AOI, DM, NR, TB and THoT.
UMC Maintainer: Forward They Cried, A Few Logs, A Few More Logs, Start of the War, and Battle Against Time
zoggop
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Re: A Gryphon's Tale (BfW1.8)

Post by zoggop »

Orcish Attack was really difficult... After about three attempts I finally survived turn 25, but just barely (both gryphon leaders had low health). But it seems possible enough (though I would call the normal difficulty "hard"). Having almost no surviving units makes the next scenario more difficult, because without saurians surviving to recall in the caves, fighting ogres is often fatal.

On a WML note, using 1.7 I'm noticing that none of the difficulty-specific turn macros work. I had to hack scenarios 4 and 6 to have a simple turns=__. Otherwise both those scenarios have zero turns.
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Re: A Gryphon's Tale (BfW1.8)

Post by Anonymissimus »

zoggop wrote:Orcish Attack was really difficult... After about three attempts I finally survived turn 25, but just barely (both gryphon leaders had low health). But it seems possible enough (though I would call the normal difficulty "hard"). Having almost no surviving units makes the next scenario more difficult, because without saurians surviving to recall in the caves, fighting ogres is often fatal.
On both scenarios, zolphas placed inside cave wall make an effective distraction...
On a WML note, using 1.7 I'm noticing that none of the difficulty-specific turn macros work. I had to hack scenarios 4 and 6 to have a simple turns=__. Otherwise both those scenarios have zero turns.
Thanks. That was the ususal medium/normal confusion. Fixed & up.
projects (BfW 1.12):
A Simple Campaign: campaign draft for wml startersPlan Your Advancements: mp mod
The Earth's Gut: sp campaignSettlers of Wesnoth: mp scenarioWesnoth Lua Pack: lua tags and utils
updated to 1.8 and handed over: A Gryphon's Tale: sp campaign
PhotonX
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Re: A Gryphon's Tale (BfW1.8)

Post by PhotonX »

Anyone managed the last scenario (leveling up a zolpha)? I've played this on easy and besides of the last scenario it was ok, but the last one is really hard. :/
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