1.4 Bad Moon Rising (obsolete)

[doofus-01]

Claudya,

True, Part I is rather trivial at the moment. Part II is not, I hope. The whole thing needs balancing, but for now I want to make sure it is functioning and playable to the end (there are still some mistakes, see docrock's comments a few posts up).

A German translation would be great. I will try to get the presently published text strings finalized this weekend. (I've probably annoyed the French, Turkish, and Italian teams by changing things in the past, I hadn't realized it was being translated - I never registered at Berlios.)

Thanks.

[Turuk]

Doofus-01, I just finished Part I, moving now into Part II, and I had a couple questions.

Is there supposed to be a significant story jump from Scarrion losing consciousness to coming back as he does? (avoiding spoilers) The reason I ask is that he goes from somewhat insignificant to powerful enough to blow through crowds of lvl 3 undead with ease. Not to mention the 2 new friends that come back with him do help with the story, but they cannot keep up with him and die pretty easily eventually (even after getting them to lvl 3).

Not trying to nitpick, just curious, I have really enjoyed the campaign so far. Great job with the storyline, and some of the twists in the scenarios.

[doofus-01]

Turuk,

There is somewhat of a story jump I guess. Scarrion does not really know what is going on, so neither should the player (yet, everything is eventually explained). The narration style may be inconsistent though, that could cause some confusion. I'll try to clean it up soon.

The two new friends do die rather easily, but they are not critical. They were mostly to avoid having Scarrion stuck on six sides, and also to introduce the unit types. That race/faction is more important later on.

[Turuk]

Fair enough, thanks for answering my questions. I kind of figured that was where you were going with it, but it's worth it to actually hear it from the creator himself.

My only thought is that even if he does not know what is going on, maybe a bit of narration to the effect of:

"He awoke, and felt stronger than he had in days. His limbs surged with energy, and his mind pulsed with barely restrained power. Where did this come from? Did it have to do with his vision? He made to get up and felt his limbs move of their own accord, felt himself being driven by some unexplainable force, pushing him forward, ever forward into the cave..."

Something along those lines possibly? Just to clue the player in to a bit of the change, but leave them just as in the dark as Scarrion.

If you need help with dialogue/narration, I'm willing to lend a hand if you'd like, if not, good luck. It's a good campaign.

[doofus-01]

"He awoke, and felt stronger than he had in days...

That's true, I could expand that part a bit more.

If you need help with dialogue/narration, I'm willing to lend a hand if you'd like...

Sure. If you come across anything that's too hazy, corny, or modern-sounding, please let me know. Some of it I can catch myself, but it's good to hear from someone not wearing the same rose-colored glasses that I am.

Thanks.

[doofus-01]

0.4.2 is up on the server. I didn't quite get everything fixed, but it's still an improvement. Did some unit balancing, cleaned up the dialogue a bit (although there seems to be a never-ending supply of spelling and grammar mistakes.) The 'world map' parts are still a problem, but shouldn't be a show-stopper. I haven't managed to get the "Pit" scenario in order, but "Royal Rumble" is improved.

Part III is making a comeback, but only a couple of scenarios for now.

[Turuk]

0.4.2, does it change parts of part I? Or should I keep testing through Part II?

[doofus-01]

Turuk,

Part I has not changed much, I just added a bit more text in the place you mentioned, and fixed a mistake in an [ai] block in the last scenario. The majority of changes are in Part II.

Parts I & II could still use some clean-up and balancing, but I don't anticipate making any drastic changes to them.

[Turuk]

Fair enough, then I'll finish through Part II and on to Part III before I run through Part I again.

I always annotate as I play, so I can post more notes on here if you like, and I'll keep an eye out for balance issues/spelling.

[doofus-01]

Sure, fire away.

Thanks for your help.

[claudya]

I would like to feedback some thingsin PartII that I came across this weekend. If they have been mentioned before and corrected, then ignore it.

1. In the first scenario ("Enough is enough") I made one of my spearmen level up. But when the formler loyalist soldiers reappeared as Ukians in the "Rescue" scenario, that guy was downgraded back to a level 1 regular. Poor guy. Ain't it possible to keep them on the level they reached when they were loyalists?

2. If the player happens to get into a snow skirmish before he/she played the "Rescue" scenario, he can already recruit Ukian archers, although they have not been introduced yet. Seems to me like a bad crack in the campaign chronology.
And don't think players would avoid the offroad areas. The warning about enemies lurking there sounds almost like an invitation.

3. Lorenzon keeps saying the same dialogue line in evey snow/wood/hill skirmish: "We should have stayed on the path". Would be good to have some variation of that. Maybe you could define a few different phrases he could say at the start of the skirmishes and then let the computer choose the line via random...? Just a suggestion.

4. Some days ago I lost the "Camp" scenario because one enemy unit crossed the river (I let him pass because he was the only one and I needed my defense elsewhere), and was counted three times during the next three turns. As he moved around on my side of the river he was counted again after one turn and a third time after the next turn. Pretty clever of that soldier to get three times the credit for only one achievement. But bad for the player. I tried to fix that problem myself but I'm not yet good enough in WML.

5. "Camp" again: seems like time is ticking a bit slower in that scenario... each part of the day has two turns. That's okay, but you should give some explanation for that schedule change. Else everyone's gonna be confuesed like I was.

6. And again "Camp": Tenvan doesn't have any introduction. No idea who he is and why he is fighting on Lorenzon's side. He'd deserve some dialogue lines. Or maybe he could be introduced on the world map when Lorenzon enters the forest area, right before the Camp Scenario starts.


Well, thats all for now.
Great campaign!
I'm gonna what out for more stuff to report.

And you're right, part II is a bit more difficult. Medium difficulty is the right amount of challenge for me to have fun.

[doofus-01]

Thanks for the report, claudya.

1. & 2. - Oops, thanks for catching that.
3. Good point.
4. That doesn't sound good. Thanks for pointing it out.
5. That happens a lot in this campaign. It didn't occur to me that it was a problem, but I can change it. At some point, I'd like to make the days really long and the nights really short for summer, and then the converse for winter.
6. Good point. I may get rid of him.

[claudya]

Found another one (just a minor thing):
After when returning to the Ukiah map after "Camp", there's no warning to stay on the road. But leaving it will lead into a skirmish nonetheless.

5. That happens a lot in this campaign. It didn't occur to me that it was a problem, but I can change it. At some point, I'd like to make the days really long and the nights really short for summer, and then the converse for winter.

That's really a good idea, and I, too, was thinking of including seasonal changes of the day-night-cycle when I create my first own campaign (if I ever make it that far, ).
Changing the daytime schedule is fine, but you really oughta notify the palyer about it. Otherwise they might run into tactical trouble (like I did, expecting dusk to come the next turn and starting an attack, but then the sun was still high up in the sky ).
So it's rather fair to inform the players, to enable them to appropriately plan their strategy.

And it would be nice have some reference to the story... why are the days and nights so long during those battles? Giving some story-related explanation could be a good thing to create an atmosphere. Think of "Under the burning suns" (especially the third scenario of that campaign...)

6. Good point. I may get rid of him.

That would be bad... better give him some more personality (e.g. some dialogue lines) and some kind of introduction? But that's up to you.

[doofus-01]

Changing the daytime schedule is fine, but you really oughta notify the palyer about it.
...
And it would be nice have some reference to the story...

I see your point. My reasons for making the days long were sort of arbitrary, there is no explanation a la UtBS. I'll replace it with the winter/summer thing. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

That would be bad... better give him some more personality (e.g. some dialogue lines) and some kind of introduction?

I'd originally put him there because the cavalry were too fast and my WML knowledge at the time was rather flaky. I'll overhaul that scenario so he won't be necessary (or missed).

Thanks for your comments.

[doofus-01]

0.4.3 is on the server. I made a pass at fixing the daytime schedules and the 'world map' off-road skirmishes. The schedules are easy to change, but their effect takes a fair amount of play-testing to gauge so I hope it works out.

I made some small changes to the "Pit" scenario, so it might winnable now (I was almost able to beat it).

Part III has a couple more scenarios.

Save-games from the previous version should be compatible.