The Gnomes: Release for Temuchin

[Flametrooper]

First, THESE ARE NOT WARCRAFT GNOMES. They are small, true, and they are called Gnomes temporarily while I think of a better name. However, they are very different. They are rougher, tougher, and generally more badass. They love to steal, drink, fight, pillage...you get the idea. They were slightly inspired by the Free Goblins, but they are smaller even than goblins. The main source of inspiration, though, was Terry Pratchett's Nac mac Feegle, as I was reading one of the books with them in I thought, "wouldn't these guys be neat as a Wesnoth faction?" The idea grew, and after a preliminary bit of thinking on it, I decided to go ahead, now that my Celtic faction has reached a release and I feel like taking a sort of breather from is. I started with what Feegles were mentioned in the books, and then added a few of my own invention, mainly for balance.
I have art, stats, a tree - I only post a few here, now, as I've got to go pack. I will be at summer camp all next week, so feel free to tinker with the idea while I'm gone. I hope to come back to feedback, good or bad, and a few new ideas.

---Unit Tree---

Code: Select all

level 0                     
Gnome->Gnome Fighter->Gnome Warrior->Gnome Hero (sword, blade dmg)
	      				     ->Gnome Warchief (leads)
	     ->Gnome Spearman->Gnome Guardian (Spear, steadfast level 2)
	     ->Gnome Slinger->Gnome Stoneflinger (Impact meele + ranged) 
					    ->Gnome Fireflinger (high damage low reps fire ranged)

Gnome Scout->Gnome Tracker->Gnome Hunter (Weak, skirmish, poison darts ranged)
			->Gnome Nailer->Gnome Impaler (Better meele and worse ranged, loses poison on range; keeps skirmish; nail: meele pierce slow*)

		       Gnome Aviator->Gnome Birdmaster (Flying scout, gains impact ranged (dropped rock) at level 2

*=it's slow because he sticks the nail in people's feet.
I don't have a gonnagle unit because I couldn't draw the mousepipes.

---Art demo---
Drawn by me. Some peripherals may be stolen, but most of it was drawn by me. All units are edits of each other, so it may not look that varied. Remember this is only a first draft. Depicted are the regular Gnome line with branching and the Aviator line.

[JW]

Those units are far too small and indistinguishable from each other to even be alpha I'd say. There should be distinguishable body and somewhat facial features in all sprites, and I suggest you take a look at what Zhukov has done to improve his works lately, as he has gotten much better as of late, so perhaps looking at his metamorhpasis could help inspire you as well.

Best of luck working with these guys. If you truly get a theme worked out and some alpha artwork I might be willing to throw some ideas your way in terms of plotline, stats, features, etc. Don't consider that a promise though, only a possibility. It's up to you to get the project up to snuff (from my twisted perspective ).

I've kinda wanted another mini-race than the (IMO boring) Dwarves, so I kinda have an interest in a project of this nature suceeding.

Again, good luck, and work hard.

[toms]

Maybe they should be strong in another way than physical strength. I think of strength in numbers, so they perhaps should have a useful healer, easy-to-get leadership units, etc.

[Flametrooper]

Only 2 replies. I was really expecting better.
Oh well, I guess that since in a week's time no one has explicitly said "No", and JW has even grudgingly admitted to liking the concept, if not the alpha art, I may as well continue. However, i will not be working very hard or spending a lot of time on it for a while, though I will try to get some work done.

@JW: The units are supposed to be small, they are very small, in fact i made them a bit too big just for the sake of being able to show them at all. I did the best distinguishing I could at the size, and I do not want them to go any bigger, then they are as big as a goblin or dwarf which is too big for them.
I tried distinguishing with the weapons, helmet etc, instead. I would have given them capes, but don't think that fits their charachter too much.
@toms: I'm against giving them a healer, it's a bit out of their charachter, but more leaders would be fine if I can fit them in the line. Their strength is in numbers, yes, that's why they're so cheap.

[JW]

Only 2 replies. I was really expecting better.

You really haven't posted anything significant - what are people to say? I pretty much covered it all in my post. This, right now, is just an idea like all of the other failed faction ideas out there. You've really got to do more for people to get on board...

@JW: The units are supposed to be small, they are very small, in fact i made them a bit too big just for the sake of being able to show them at all. I did the best distinguishing I could at the size, and I do not want them to go any bigger, then they are as big as a goblin or dwarf which is too big for them.

Doesn't sound very promising. Remember that Biggerism is Creeping in; don't Fight it.

[Flametrooper]

This, right now, is just an idea like all of the other failed faction ideas out there.

Not anymore...it has a release.
I'd forgotten about these guys, but recently while working on the Celts, I found them sitting around in the documents folder. So I just finished up their loose ends and bundled in into a release. The images are still the same, but overall this is an alpha release. (On a similar note, I follow the twin policies of "release early, release often" and "don't give a $#*+ about playtesting", so no balance testing has been done.) Please download it! And report any problems with balance, gameplay, getting it to work, etc. to me.
So here it is, Gnomes Version 0.1.0. Enjoy!

EDIT: The era .cfg file was broken. Download the attached cfg and put in /userdata/data/campaigns, or your OS's equivalent.

EDIT2: More brokenness! That's what you get for not testing before you release. Download the new .zip, it should work now.

[Elvish_Pillager]

The main source of inspiration, though, was Terry Pratchett's Nac mac Feegle, as I was reading one of the books with them in I thought, "wouldn't these guys be neat as a Wesnoth faction?"

So they all have 12 moves, 10 swing melee attacks, and 99% defense in every terrain?

[Flametrooper]

The main source of inspiration, though, was Terry Pratchett's Nac mac Feegle, as I was reading one of the books with them in I thought, "wouldn't these guys be neat as a Wesnoth faction?"

So they all have 12 moves, 10 swing melee attacks, and 99% defense in every terrain?

Heh, not quite. But that general idea is there. They are more loosely based on the Feegles, not strongly based on them the way that, say, the Lavinians are strongly based on the ancient Romans.

[Cuyo Quiz]

the Lavinians are strongly based on the ancient Romans.

The original Lavinians, yes. But then it got ballistas and hippos and what not .

[turin]

The original Lavinians, yes. But then it got ballistas and hippos and what not .

The Romans didn't have ballistas?

(The hippos are a stretch, I agree. But they aren't an exact copy of the lavinians, just like the loyalists are not an exact copy of a medieval army.)

[Flametrooper]

back on topic...
If I started team-coloring these units, where should I put the TC? Some (Spearman, Guardian) are obvious, but the rest, I'm not sure of. Their loincloths, maybe?
EDIT: As I was looking through their sprites, to see what could be TC'd, I came on the Hunter sprite, which I didn't think looked goo. So I redid it. He is making one of those "ninja" stances like the orc slayer.
Compare:

[Flametrooper]

No opinions. I'll just go with the new one, then.
Another new (and probably not very good) image: the Mystic. Level 1 recruitable, unlike most; levels all the way to level 3, unlike most. Heals (cures at level 2) and does (fire? impact? not sure) ranged magic damage.

[JW]

If I started team-coloring these units, where should I put the TC?

They are still too small to TC....those sprites will be indistinguishable in game...

[Flametrooper]

I've play-tested them, on normal zoom...they are distinguishable, at least to me. You could always download the release and see how it looks for yourself.

[Flametrooper]

Anyways, here's the Mystic and it's two levelups - the Sage and Spirit Master respectively. Distinguishable enough for you, JW?