Genesis 0.2.12 [1.14/1.15] [Ep 1 complete]

Discussion and development of scenarios and campaigns for the game.

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nemaara
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Re: Genesis

Post by nemaara »

dracostar:
Spoiler:
secrety
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Re: Genesis

Post by secrety »

nemaara wrote:secrety:
Spoiler:
Thanks for your answer.
Well… I put Ester to the fire, Aryel to the tree and Yumi to the light, but it didn't work. Also tried Aryel to the bloody water and Esther to the cold water.
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nemaara
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Re: Genesis

Post by nemaara »

Your first guess wasn't bad. I don't see why Yumi would be associated with light, though. Given her personality and appearance, she would more likely be associated with a different element. Try moving her around and seeing what happens. In the worst case, having Aryel on the tree and Esther on fire means you only need to try 4 different combinations, and there's no turn limit.
secrety
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Re: Genesis

Post by secrety »

I got it 8)
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Elder2
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Re: Genesis

Post by Elder2 »

Please make more xD

I enjoyed it so much! The story was very good and the whole campaign had that mysterious feel to it mainly because of Yumi. But for me it was so enjoyable because of the great characters, you cant really dislike any of the 3 fae. I think Yumi was especially interesting one. She obviously didnt have that much dialogue but i felt like her character was really well made. And im really curious how will her story develop.
I didnt find any bugs.
ispaceout
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Re: Genesis

Post by ispaceout »

nemaara wrote:
Feedback

Any bugs, comments, or concerns should be posted in this thread. Please note that even if your feedback does not receive a direct reply, it will be read and considered for subsequent versions of this campaign. All feedback will be appreciated.

Replies to questions will not cover future events (i.e.: no spoilers for unwritten parts of this campaign will be given).
First off I just want to say thank you. This was a really cool campaign with a very compelling story, awesome custom graphics and sprites, and really cool new powers/skills that changed the typical play style of Wesnoth. I've been playing Wesnoth off an on over the past few years and out of all the custom campaigns, this one was one of only three campaigns that I bothered to finish all the way through.

That being said, I just wanted to share a few of my thoughts and comments - whether you read them or not or even take them to heart is up to you.

Story wise I liked the overall flow. Personally I wished there was more side quests though - quests that you could do to help enhance your main heroes. Really the only side quest that I recall in the campaign was the Undead mayhem one in the white city where that college girl and her frat buddies accidentally summoned portals to the undead world. But while that campaign was limitless, it got exponentially harder to beat the longer you waited. The first time i played it I spent (not even joking) over three hours on it. I had tons of epic troops and my hero fae were getting higher levels but it was very difficult to beat it especially since lvl3 skeletons started spawning randomly all along the second level basically making your defensive lines moot. This really forced the player to play a more rushed match not giving much room to level the characters. The only real advantage place I found to level safely was the *spoilers* forrest level after they leave the city when the humans and demons attack. Once you defeat the demon lords, groups of demons will spawn randomly around the demonic hexagon in groups of 2-5. So in short, some cool short side quests that offer some lore trivia or story related content as well as decent leveling/items would be awesome imo.
^--I'm suggesting this because I really really dislike restarting turns or going back a few turns. I think it takes away from the story. And quests like *spoilers* Yumi's dream quests where she talks with the voice in her head then the later one where one of the gaurdian's talks with her, those were really difficult quests. In part because she didnt have a self regen like esther, and her healing spell only healed very little. Because it was ranged i couldn't heal on the counter for melee attacks so I kept dying, a lot. I don't know if she gets upgraded healing or something at higher levels but I didn't even get her super powered storm ability that did like 40-80 damage at night until towards the end of her last dream quest.

Also, while it doesnt have to be in depth you should consider making a story that is player choice driven? Give options to make choices that would affect where you go in the campaign, who joins you, romances, or even how it ends. This would give significant replay value. You already have a really cool story with awesome lore - players would love to get a chance to learn more.

As far as bugs go there was only two?? maybe.
The first was the fort quest where we had to go to the temple and read the glyphs. The way the conversation went it sounded like we would be able to recruit human soldiers to accompany us or at least have an AI support. Could be you intended it to be that way, in which case could I suggest giving us the option to recruit? That level in particular was somewhat difficult. Once I made it to the cave I had to have Esther hold the tunnel while Yumi went to each glyph. It was actually really hard and had to keep restating the turns cause esther would inevitably die to the seemingly endless hordes of direwolves and ghosts.

the second, isnt really a big issue. After I healed the giant tree near the lake it looked all nice. Then i went into the city and when i came out it was dead again. Idk why but that bothered me. Like i said, not a big issue, just something I noticed.

that's it. I am really REALLY looking forward to the next installment. :) good luck guys. I know it's a lot of hard work but it is appreciated.
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nemaara
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Re: Genesis

Post by nemaara »

Yeah, so it's hard for me to do anything until school ends, because homework and classes (among other projects) eat up all of my time. But once school gets out, I will try to make more.
As far as bugs go there was only two?? maybe.
The first was the fort quest where we had to go to the temple and read the glyphs. The way the conversation went it sounded like we would be able to recruit human soldiers to accompany us or at least have an AI support. Could be you intended it to be that way, in which case could I suggest giving us the option to recruit? That level in particular was somewhat difficult. Once I made it to the cave I had to have Esther hold the tunnel while Yumi went to each glyph. It was actually really hard and had to keep restating the turns cause esther would inevitably die to the seemingly endless hordes of direwolves and ghosts.

the second, isnt really a big issue. After I healed the giant tree near the lake it looked all nice. Then i went into the city and when i came out it was dead again. Idk why but that bothered me. Like i said, not a big issue, just something I noticed.
What difficulty are you playing on? Also, you should be able to recruit human soldiers, if I'm not mistaken. I'll try to look into the other bug when I have more time.

I've been deliberately vague about the lore for a bit, because it would be boring to reveal too much early on :O. The next few scenarios should have more when I have time to make them. For the same reason, it's hard for me to make a bunch of side quests, simply because I have neither the time nor the energy to do it. The choice driven aspect would also require a lot of extra coding, and since I'm bad at programming, it might cause a bunch of bugs, which would be bad.

Okay, so I can't make any promises, but I will try to make an update asap, but I have to clean up a few other ongoing things first.
The_Squished_Elf
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Re: Genesis

Post by The_Squished_Elf »

I REALLY liked the visuals of Caerleon. Those towers are impressive :shock: In fact, the graphics in this campaign are just generally superb; the three main caharacters' different wing styles are a particularly nice touch.

Story-wise, I admit I can't actually critique it too well; I'm still experiencing the remaining squee from an expansion to shadowmaster's universe. I did feel Esther and Aryel were well-developed, as well as Yumi's one presently visible dimension of no-talkie.
Spoiler:
Played on easy, got exactly what I asked for. Except for Impetus. I have to agree with revansurik, if it wasn't for having been in constant fear someone would pull that trick on me since I delved into UMC, I would've lost Esther there. A point in the objectives or the dialogue indicating this might not be as easy as it seems (and not about the humans' numbers), or even working in a dialogue box acknowledging the unnatural dodging when it first happens to one of the heroes, would really help. (For reference,
Spoiler:
Quite a good campaign so far, promising greater things in the future, and so far it seems a worthy addition to shadowmaster's universe. I think your explanation of the various worlds, concentrated as it is, makes this a pretty reasonable starting point into the universe as well, ignoring how well IftU segues in from the mainline material.
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Daniel17022002
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Re: Genesis

Post by Daniel17022002 »

Before starting a long post, I want to tell you that you are a really good story-writer, that I love this storyline and invasion from the unknown/after the storm's. There might be some criticize in what I'll write, but please don't mind it too much, this campaign is one of the best overall.

So, first of all, I feel like you concentrated a bit too much on the main characters?(if that is possible!?). I don't mean that you shouldn't, no. I mean that you should create some secondary characters ( like some loyal units). For example, the faeries have no role overall in the story, they do not look like even realizing that they are any different from the main characters. Maybe you could make a faerie character that gets implied in the story, maybe even finding out that Esther and Yumi aren't faeries and keeping the secret. Also, probably you could make a more important human character(like maybe making the lieutenant guy loyal and implying him in the story a bit or any other human unit). Now, the only other thing I didn't really like was that the story had few things that didn't fit right with the invasion from the unknown/after the storm campaigns(it's been a little while since I played them so it might only be my bad memory) : the humans kind of knew too much about the guardians and gods, when as far as I remember they shouldn't even know of any of them at all, even their existence. Also, they looked way too used to see faeries, when it is said that they are really rare and rarely ever interact with other species. Anyways , don't forget the timeline please, if it is really close to invasion from the unknown/after the storm, there should be two suns or the various problems with rulers in Wesnoth . This is the last one: I am not really sure, but wasn't the lady of light from after the storm also a guardian but lower than Xia'el?I mean,I can't remember,but was Xia'el a guardian or more powerful than them? Sorry for any of my mistakes, didn't mean to loose your time with this.

Now, enough criticizing, let's talk about the good parts :D . The main characters are really good, having different layers of personality , their relations are well described and their emotions almost always shown. Their sprites were also looking really awesome. The soundtrack...oh that soundtrack...gosh what good memories from the invasion from the unknown/ after the storm. Also, I noticed the extra music in this and really liked it, it fits really well. The graphics...what can I say? Stunning. I also like the main characters' evolution upgrades :) . The story is so so so so so so so so so...and one more so good! Gives you the feels :shock: . My favorite character would be Yumi sincerely, I don't even know how to motivate this though. The difficulty was pretty much okay, as some scenarios were way too easy, but most were normal or even a little challenge for me(talking about the one with the two generals as later you have to fight with those 3 demon kings which are quite hard to defeat). To be honest, I'm really happy I found this campaign while randomly looking through the add-ons! Had some pretty good time playing it. Now, having all of these said, this is one of the best campaigns I've played so far! Is there any way I can help with anything at all? I mean it. Anything? ^_^ Please? :evil: Don't say no or I'm sending them demons on you.
Spoiler:
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Re: Genesis

Post by Elder2 »

Daniel17022002 wrote:Before starting a long post, I want to tell you that you are a really good story-writer, that I love this storyline and invasion from the unknown/after the storm's. There might be some criticize in what I'll write, but please don't mind it too much, this campaign is one of the best overall.

So, first of all, I feel like you concentrated a bit too much on the main characters?(if that is possible!?). I don't mean that you shouldn't, no. I mean that you should create some secondary characters ( like some loyal units). For example, the faeries have no role overall in the story, they do not look like even realizing that they are any different from the main characters. Maybe you could make a faerie character that gets implied in the story, maybe even finding out that Esther and Yumi aren't faeries and keeping the secret. Also, probably you could make a more important human character(like maybe making the lieutenant guy loyal and implying him in the story a bit or any other human unit). Now, the only other thing I didn't really like was that the story had few things that didn't fit right with the invasion from the unknown/after the storm campaigns(it's been a little while since I played them so it might only be my bad memory) : the humans kind of knew too much about the guardians and gods, when as far as I remember they shouldn't even know of any of them at all, even their existence. Also, they looked way too used to see faeries, when it is said that they are really rare and rarely ever interact with other species. Anyways , don't forget the timeline please, if it is really close to invasion from the unknown/after the storm, there should be two suns or the various problems with rulers in Wesnoth . This is the last one: I am not really sure, but wasn't the lady of light from after the storm also a guardian but lower than Xia'el?I mean,I can't remember,but was Xia'el a guardian or more powerful than them? Sorry for any of my mistakes, didn't mean to loose your time with this.

Now, enough criticizing, let's talk about the good parts :D . The main characters are really good, having different layers of personality , their relations are well described and their emotions almost always shown. Their sprites were also looking really awesome. The soundtrack...oh that soundtrack...gosh what good memories from the invasion from the unknown/ after the storm. Also, I noticed the extra music in this and really liked it, it fits really well. The graphics...what can I say? Stunning. I also like the main characters' evolution upgrades :) . The story is so so so so so so so so so...and one more so good! Gives you the feels :shock: . My favorite character would be Yumi sincerely, I don't even know how to motivate this though. The difficulty was pretty much okay, as some scenarios were way too easy, but most were normal or even a little challenge for me(talking about the one with the two generals as later you have to fight with those 3 demon kings which are quite hard to defeat). To be honest, I'm really happy I found this campaign while randomly looking through the add-ons! Had some pretty good time playing it. Now, having all of these said, this is one of the best campaigns I've played so far! Is there any way I can help with anything at all? I mean it. Anything? ^_^ Please? :evil: Don't say no or I'm sending them demons on you.
Spoiler:
Let me answer your question. Elynia was indeed a guardian of earth, but that happened only in the final part of the campaign, however Xia'el was also a guardian of Earth.

It is however a bit tricky to understand and I am not sure if I remember everything of it. It was like this: Argan managed to implant the heart (power source) of the Guardian of Darkness (Marthiaal, now deceased as she pretty much destroyed herself and consumed her own seed of darkness which means that the Guardian of Darkness should never again be reborn and also it means that her world, it was probably called Urvatha was destroyed) into Elyssa making her essentially an artificial guardian of darkness, normally a Guardian gains his powers when a soul of the guardian (naturally born guardian) merges with heart of the guardian (a power source) however Elyssa (previously a nice fire mage we all loved) was not a naturally born guardian and she somehow survived implanting the heart into her body, changed by the Argazor Shaxthal technology (and also I think it was said the Norsulan technology of merging technology with magic). But that is not all Argan, actually tried to copy the oryginal heart of Maarthial using otherworldly technology and succeeded, I think it was said he planned to make a lot of copies of it (like 50) but succeeded in making only a few so far. One of the hearts was used by the lich, Mal-Hekuba to open the portal to the inferno but ultimately it exploded. And one of the copies was inserted into Elynia.
So so far it sounds really convoluted, doesn't it? Because it is convoluted xD So, continuing, Xia'el is the oryginal guardian of earth but my explanation is (I think it wasn't outright stated in the lore) that there can be more predestined, born guardians of earth like Elynia, or probably also the other guardians, but they can never become an guardian since they lack the heart of it (in all cases except Marthiaal owned by the still living, original guardians).

Anya seems to be just an exception (if not call her a plot hole) because like it was said she shouldn't exist, a naturally born guardian of darkness who is also an old shapeshifter, she doesn't have any heart or other power source (like heart of the gatekeeper) we know about so her power source remains unknown, idk, she seems to have properties of the guardian for unknown reasons, maybe just because she is cool and is a shapeshifter.

Overall now that I look on the role of IfTU there seem to be quite a lot of plotholes, some things were implied and the other only vaguely explained. But well, it doesn't bother me too much, it leaves some room for imagination and trying to explain things yourself, which I think is fun. Also, I see Genesis as just a spinoff so I don't care too much about the lore.
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James_The_Invisible
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Re: Genesis

Post by James_The_Invisible »

probably called Urvatha
I do not think so. Urvatha is another name for Inferno which obviously exists even after events of After the Storm and is ruled by Uria (guardian of life).
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Iris
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Re: Genesis

Post by Iris »

Genesis takes place during the First Cycle. IftU and AtS and the mainline canon all take place during the Second Cycle. The creation of the second sun takes place perhaps hundreds or thousands of millions of years after the end of the First Cycle.

Xia’el and Uria are the names of the Guardians of Earth and Life of the First Cycle, respectively. Merthiaal (in the Second Cycle better known as Yechnagoth) was the Guardian of Darkness and her world was Yrathid.
AtS E3S13/hidden epilogue spoilers:
AtS E3 general spoilers:
Author of the unofficial UtBS sequels Invasion from the Unknown and After the Storm.
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Daniel17022002
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Re: Genesis

Post by Daniel17022002 »

Thanks for clearing out what I didn't remember about the story! :mrgreen: . By the way , I do have a little question, doesn't matter if I would use it or not but...is there any sprite for the last surviving God, the one of arcane light?
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Elder2
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Re: Genesis

Post by Elder2 »

James_The_Invisible wrote:
probably called Urvatha
I do not think so. Urvatha is another name for Inferno which obviously exists even after events of After the Storm and is ruled by Uria (guardian of life).
I know, yeah, i mixed it up


@Shadowm Oh, that explains a lot, thank you!
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nemaara
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Re: Genesis

Post by nemaara »

Hi everyone, I'm alive. :lol:

Sorry for the loooong wait, I had some issues (they are not really resolved, but whatever), so it delayed me working on this campaign. But, at least for now, I'm ready to get back to making new content. There is a rather big update that's kind of (sort of) almost ready (say, 1-2 weeks hopefully); the one really big thing I'll say about it is that I can't say for sure if old saves will work. I think they might still be okay, but it's recommended to start from the beginning (many of the old scenarios have been updated, anyway). This kind of sucks, so if it's really a big deal, I can try to code in a filler scenario that automatically updates old saves to the new version.

Here are some of the changes. You can feel free to give feedback, so I can tweak them before the release:

These changes only affect you if you're starting from the beginning.

(1) Fae exp requirements are increased quite a bit (est. 30-40%). The reasoning here is that they were leveling too quickly to begin with and really threw off the scenario balancing.

(2) All Fae AMLA paths have been updated. Esther has been touched the least, while Yumi has been tweaked the most. In particular, it seemed (correct me if I'm wrong) that most people were putting as much into her faerie fire as possible, but this will make it nearly impossible to win some scenarios. As a hint, especially in the new version, her void assault attack is very powerful. As compensation for her altered stats, I've raised her drain to 40%.

(3) A lot of levels that did not have turn limits now either have turn limits or are extremely difficult to finish past a certain turn (usually noted in objectives). Examples: Crypt and Arcaneum. This is to prevent you from farming forever. Your units will naturally get a lot of exp by the nature of the spawns, so please try to refrain from trying to farm exp endlessly. :lol:

(4) I've made some "lore" units. They are unlocked by progressing through the scenarios (including side scenarios, so if you skip these, you won't get the lore units). They are mostly summaries of what's explained in the scenarios, but do offer a bit of extra background as well.

(5) The scenarios will be harder if you're just trying to use the Fae to get through them without recruiting units. However, the faerie units have been upgraded with AMLAs and the Guardian line has been buffed. This is to distribute the power more evenly between "hero" units and normal ones.

These changes affect everyone.

(1) As noted above, combat faerie now have extra AMLAs, while the healers have been buffed.

(2) There is new music. This affects old scenarios and new ones as well.

(3) I had to do about a bazillion bugfixes. For one, Aryel's ranged attacked that heals allies was not working on defense. It now does. Additionally, some of the demons with abilities like immunity to physical attacks were healing twice instead of once, which meant that they would actually heal from combat. Some of the AI was also not working properly in some of the scenarios. This is now fixed as well.

(4) Blue and black demons are now generally harder to fight. To compensate for this, the cost of summoning manifestations is now reduced (varies depending on the scenario, often is 5-6 gold instead of 8-10).

In general, I think the campaign is harder (especially on hard mode), so it's recommended for less experienced players to play on easy/medium. I can reduce the difficulty a little bit if people end up finding it to be too hard. I can open up the campaign to be playtested (in a couple days) if people are interested. There is currently one new scenario, and two more should follow (hopefully) shortly.

Finally...
Daniel17022002 wrote: So, first of all, I feel like you concentrated a bit too much on the main characters?(if that is possible!?). I don't mean that you shouldn't, no. I mean that you should create some secondary characters ( like some loyal units). For example, the faeries have no role overall in the story, they do not look like even realizing that they are any different from the main characters. Maybe you could make a faerie character that gets implied in the story, maybe even finding out that Esther and Yumi aren't faeries and keeping the secret. Also, probably you could make a more important human character(like maybe making the lieutenant guy loyal and implying him in the story a bit or any other human unit).
Spoiler:
There are plans to introduce faerie/human characters. I just need to find a good place to fit them in. Thanks for all your other comments.
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
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