The Harvest - a Myth: The Fallen Lords ispired scenario emulating a core campaign experience.

Discussion and development of scenarios and campaigns for the game.

Moderator: Forum Moderators

BajMic
Posts: 42
Joined: January 24th, 2023, 1:22 am

The Harvest - a Myth: The Fallen Lords ispired scenario emulating a core campaign experience.

Post by BajMic »

Hello,

I am a great fan of the game, and I like it so much that I decided to make a couple of scenarios that utilize, to the fullest, the original mechanics of the game, as opposed to implementing new mechanics. I took inspiration from the old Myth series from Bungie, and I am hoping to recreate some parts of the experience, but with Wesnoth gameplay.

Here you have River Dead - a fully scripted scenario, where a you control Peasants trying to survive a Walking Dead invasion. It emulates, to an extent, a multiplayer experience. The map is wide and securing villages is important. All units are level zero, which may create a somewhat unique tactical experience. And remember that Walking Dead can turn your guys into their own.

In order to create replayability, you get two leaders (the main and the expendable) as well as two alternative objectives, which allows for some decision making in choosing how you want to play the scenario.

One of the objectives is the typical "survive until turns run out" but with a twist - you also need to level up enough units before the time is up. Alternatively, you can just kill enemy leaders without worrying about your casualties, but this comes with a risk.

This is my first attempt and I am quite an amateur - there are no custom portraits and I used a sprite or two from White Wolf's Ravagers Era.

The scenario includes some cutscenes so please, for full experience, turn the sound+music on and don't set your animation acceleration higher than 2x.

I have plenty of ideas for a full campaign, mostly based on using the Wesnoth gameplay creatively to make interesting challenges. I don't think, however, I will ever be able to finish it on my own. If anyone is interested in collaboration, please let me know.

Sincerely,
BajMic

[EDIT] I almost forgot. In order to download the scenario, please go do "Add-ons" menu and look for "The Harvest" scenario.
User avatar
Helmet
Posts: 641
Joined: December 19th, 2006, 5:28 pm
Location: Florida, USA

Re: The Harvest - a Myth: The Fallen Lords ispired scenario emulating a core campaign experience.

Post by Helmet »

That was fun. I liked the beginning: the set-up, the panicking villagers and so forth. I especially liked all the fearful comments from the villagers above their sprites.

I played middle difficulty and killed the final enemy leader on turn 29 of 30. Leveling-up peasants was tough but fun. I was worried for a while that I wouldn't level any because they'd get targeted and killed, but I finally leveled 3 near the end.

Replay attached.

I got a warning that the 2nd scenario wasn't found, so if there were 2, only the 1st scenario worked.

Good job!
Attachments
TH-River Dead replay 20230125-195559.gz
middle difficulty
(32.49 KiB) Downloaded 45 times
Author of:
DIY Campaign, Confederacy of Swamp Creatures: Big Battle 1, Confederacy of Swamp Creatures: Big Battle 2, Frogfolk Delivery Service, The Pool of Ek.
BajMic
Posts: 42
Joined: January 24th, 2023, 1:22 am

Re: The Harvest - a Myth: The Fallen Lords ispired scenario emulating a core campaign experience.

Post by BajMic »

Thanks for playing my scenario. Thanks for your help with publishing it as well. It is a really nice experience to be able to see how someone played it.

It's just one scenario for now. The hardest difficulty is also not supported yet - it will reduce Mayor to an unplayable NPC and remove two horses from the right lower corner.
BajMic
Posts: 42
Joined: January 24th, 2023, 1:22 am

Re: The Harvest - a Myth: The Fallen Lords ispired scenario emulating a core campaign experience.

Post by BajMic »

I have updated the scenario. The current version 1.1.1., available through Add-Ons in the main meny of the game includes:

- fully supported Hardest Difficulty, in which (i)the village Mayor is an unplayable old man, (ii) there are two less horses in the village to slow down the undead rampage
- changed color pallette of your troops to better illustrate their rag-tag nature, give some more forecasting in regard to the plot.

The idea behind changing unit color pallette is also to provide means for the player to visually distinguish at which stage of the campaign has each unit joined your forces.
BajMic
Posts: 42
Joined: January 24th, 2023, 1:22 am

Re: The Harvest - a Myth: The Fallen Lords ispired scenario emulating a core campaign experience.

Post by BajMic »

Version 1.2.2 is up.

Unmodified Wesnoth we all love and enjoy incorporated into a new campaign.

I have added a second level. The level has minimal dialog and instead tells its story through cutscenes, just like its predecessor. Make sure to switch the sound and music on.

I have given myself a number of challenges with this level:

(1) How to implement shroud without negatively affecting replayability. For instance, when you play the 2nd level of Northern Rebirth, the first playthrough is much different than all the following because the map can be memorized.

So what did I do? I made the shroud only cover "deep forest tiles", i.e., all forest tiles that are surrounded by forest. This way you know the geneneral landscape from the get go. You can see the trees around the edges of shroud, which hints that shroud reflects "low visibility" areas.

The shrouded parts of the map now contain randomly placed "secrets" - treasure chests and lore items. They only appear once visible, in a similar manner as the road in South Guard's "The Long March". This should incentivize scouting without breaking the rule of "beatable on first try".

(2) How to maximize AI thread without giving it extra units. In this case, I have implemented three specific AIs here, all of which inspired by Bungie's Myth:

(a) One will try to ZOC-block you from crossing the river. Its few units will respond to your movements and rush to the spots that your units are close to. It should be possible to outstretch or distract the AI by feinting the attempts to cross. Since this is only level 2, AI has few such units and some are level 0, so this is not too menacing yet.

(b) The Second AI will gain advantage by ambushing you fairly. What I mean by that is they don't just spawn out of nowhere like the wolves in The Hammer of Thursagan. They will be here from the start and they will wait opportunistically to cause maximum damage. The point of that is to have AI that has less/weaker units than you but still poses a big threat. What is also important is that once they attack, you can clearly see/hear where they came from.

(c) The third AI will stalk and funnel the player in order to slow him down without necessarily engaging the combat. They will still attack opportunistically but only if you expose yourself. This AI's units will also retreat from other AI's, creating a "moving front" - something I will use in another level. It also helps me create map boundaries ('walls") without spamming mountain tiles everywhere. As a matter of fact, there is not a single mountain tile anywhere.

(3) How to implement a cool boss fight. Yes, you have heard it. Play the level, check it out. (It was designed to be reliably beatable regardless of your situation, but only if you plan your moves carefully.)

Please please please guys, play it for me and send the replays. There are many ways to beat these levels and I am really curious how you approached them.

I am also open to collaborations. I like inventing cool challenges and puzzles, but I don't have the full backstory yet. I also did not choose any names for the characters. (Right now I am using the Fallen London naming method, i.e., "generic adjective generic noun".)
Attachments
Second level.
Second level.
First level.
First level.
BajMic
Posts: 42
Joined: January 24th, 2023, 1:22 am

Re: The Harvest - a Myth: The Fallen Lords ispired scenario emulating a core campaign experience.

Post by BajMic »

I have uploaded a new scenario, currently separately. It is available through the Addons Menu, under "scenarios" as "The Harvest scenario 2".

In the campaign, this scenario will be accessed by killing the enemy leaders from the first level. Your Village builds defences and prepares for the next attack. Scouts are sent away looking for help - will any arrive on time?

The scenario is heavily scripted. I wanted it to play like SotBE Clash of Armies, where you must position yourself against enemy's movement, however, I wanted the enemy side to be disadvantaged in terms of numbers and resources. Instead, I scripted the AI to make the best of the situation and play it strategically. Hopefully it will feel like fighting a human opponent.

Since this is still the beginning of the campaign, I wanted it to be challenging, but only to an extent. The player will feel pressured a lot, but this is not Infested Caves quite yet.

I recommend to these players who enjoyed holding the hill in the Myth series.

(1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
(3) How clear and smooth did you find the cutscenes?
(4) How did the AI play against you?
(5) Did you spot the certain big event on time? What happened?
(6) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
(7) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
(8) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
WLFobe
Posts: 34
Joined: May 24th, 2019, 8:38 pm

Re: The Harvest - a Myth: The Fallen Lords ispired scenario emulating a core campaign experience.

Post by WLFobe »

I had completed the Harvest scenario, so I downloaded the Harvest 2 scenario. But I got "Failed to load the scenario."

I tried several times, and reran the first scenario and left it in the save folder. I also attempted to change the difficulty level. When I did this I was set the following screen:

The following add-on had errors and could not be loaded:
C:\Users\Wade\Documents\My Games\Wesnoth1.16/data/add-ons/The_Beholder/_main.cfg
Please report this to the author or maintainer of this add-on.
Details:
Macro/file 'campaigns/The_Beholder/units' is missing
at ~add-ons/The_Beholder/_main.cfg:55

I do not know what the reference to the Beholder is.
BajMic
Posts: 42
Joined: January 24th, 2023, 1:22 am

Re: The Harvest - a Myth: The Fallen Lords ispired scenario emulating a core campaign experience.

Post by BajMic »

Many thanks for letting me know, WLFobe.

I have fixed the error. The Beholder is a placeholder name for the scenario data folder. In the config file it directed towards my offline directory, however, instead of the proper add-on directory.

Corrected version is now online. It should work, now.
WLFobe
Posts: 34
Joined: May 24th, 2019, 8:38 pm

Re: The Harvest - a Myth: The Fallen Lords ispired scenario emulating a core campaign experience.

Post by WLFobe »

Thanks, it all works now.

So the new scenario is fun, but might need a few hints. I was about to give up the river front and fall back when I received an alert that they were coming across. Also, when the villagers first appeared I was unsure what to do. I ended up letting them stream north between my lines.

What happens if any of the villagers are casualties? Nothing in the Overview tells.

I actually thought that my promotions from the first scenarios would carry over. I later decided that the Harvest 2 scenarion would fit well between River Dead and The Grave Escape. Is this what you intend?

Speaking of the Grave Escape, I found two caskets with 40 gold each and a journal. Were there more? And what does the journal do?

And I never saw a Vampire.
BajMic
Posts: 42
Joined: January 24th, 2023, 1:22 am

Re: The Harvest - a Myth: The Fallen Lords ispired scenario emulating a core campaign experience.

Post by BajMic »

First of all, thanks for the feedback. I am both flattered and delighted to hear that you took your time to play my scenario. Regarding the comments:
I actually thought that my promotions from the first scenarios would carry over. I later decided that the Harvest 2 scenario would fit well between River Dead and The Grave Escape. Is this what you intend?
Yes, you guessed right. This is a bonus scenario in case you defeat the leaders on time in the first level, thereby saving your village. It is skipped if you simply survive 30 turns without resolving the level, then you escape right away.

I published it separately (for the time being) to save time of those who already played the 1st level before. Otherwise they would need to replay the first level all over again to access the new content. Current version has starting units loosely reflect Helmet's playthrough.
I was about to give up the river front and fall back when I received an alert that they were coming across
You get alerted about enemy crossing the river a turn before the main body of the southeastern advance is about to launch an attack. Sometimes before this attack a part of this force may splinter in order to recapture nearby villages (should you decide to protect them) - after clearing the villages, this splinter may then decide to keep up the momentum and seek attacks of opportunity. This mistiming might be confusing and I already have a fix prepared for this, to be included in the merged version - both the main force and the splinter shall wait for an attack signal.

Also, when the villagers first appeared I was unsure what to do. I ended up letting them stream north between my lines. What happens if any of the villagers are casualties? Nothing in the Overview tells.
There are no consequences to the villagers dying, hence there is no information in the Overview. The AI is secretly told to never attack most of those villagers, except for only a specific few. The purpose of it is just to create some illusory chaos, as well as to put pressure on the player by giving AI an opportunity to plague-spawn a couple more zombies. If you allowed any stray leftover zombies or bats to hang around in the north, they will rush to transform a couple of villagers, but they will always let at least 3 villagers per wave to reach safety (to keep it fair and free of Tomato Surprises).
Speaking of the Grave Escape, I found two caskets with 40 gold each and a journal. Were there more? And what does the journal do?
First of all, congrats on that. The caskets were randomly placed as a secret to discover for the resourceful players. The journal belonged to a dead soldier from the city - in the following levels it is going to give you hints about various locations, e.g., point out secret passageways, and even slightly alter the plot sometimes. I had to check my code to remember - at most, two caskets can spawn, and a journal, so you found them all.
And I never saw a Vampire.
There is no Vampire on that level. The scenario names are just verbal puns of popular movie titles.

My biggest concern with this map is to make it organically difficult, without resorting to just spawning a lot of units, but I am aware that this level is probably very easy as it is. For example: instead of script-spawning more units, I created opportunities for AI to plague-spawn some on its own, but I don't know what are the chances of that happening.

What do you think about the enemy unit counts? Fair, unfair, too little? What would you change in that regard?
WLFobe
Posts: 34
Joined: May 24th, 2019, 8:38 pm

Re: The Harvest - a Myth: The Fallen Lords ispired scenario emulating a core campaign experience.

Post by WLFobe »

Enemy unit counts - they seemed ok. But in the Grave Escape, when I noticed the walking corpses coming up behind my force, I dropped an archer & two peasants to delay them. Zombies ran right at my units in the fort. I sent back a couple more peasants I couldn't get across the river. By the time the scenario ended I had a Bowman, a Longbowman, A Javelineer, and a Pikeman.

I was really looking forward to using them in the next scenario.
WLFobe
Posts: 34
Joined: May 24th, 2019, 8:38 pm

Re: The Harvest - a Myth: The Fallen Lords ispired scenario emulating a core campaign experience.

Post by WLFobe »

Oh, and I had to try a couple of different things before I could get the leader to win the duel at the end. Finally figured out that I had to promote him as much as possible (my dwarf was still level 1) so he could win the duel.
BajMic
Posts: 42
Joined: January 24th, 2023, 1:22 am

Re: The Harvest - a Myth: The Fallen Lords ispired scenario emulating a core campaign experience.

Post by BajMic »

I was really looking forward to using them in the next scenario.
That can be arranged: let me know what did you level your leader into, how much gold did you save and the next time I release a separate level for testing, it will use your setup as starting troops.
Enemy unit counts - they seemed ok. But in the Grave Escape, when I noticed the walking corpses coming up behind my force, I dropped an archer & two peasants to delay them.
Do you feel that this level requires some more forecasting about the corpses chasing behind?
I sent back a couple more peasants I couldn't get across the river.
It would be very useful for me to know: which part of the river did you cross? I had some challenges balancing the different crossing points against each other.
Oh, and I had to try a couple of different things before I could get the leader to win the duel at the end.
There is one specific move pattern that lets you win every time without risk - a failsafe in case you run out of gold (except for that cutscene casket) and your leader is still level zero. In a sense, this fight is a tutorial in keeping your key units out of harm. I encourage you to try and figure it out.
Konrad2
Forum Moderator
Posts: 3330
Joined: November 24th, 2010, 6:30 pm

Re: The Harvest - a Myth: The Fallen Lords ispired scenario emulating a core campaign experience.

Post by Konrad2 »

I very much stressed about/enjoyed the first map of 'The Harvest'. :D
I managed to barely beat S1, it was hard. D:

The Grave Escape:
Why did you make the dialogue 'bubbles' so long?

It felt pretty dicy to beat it. The boss fight was very well made. ^^
I didn't try to fight the bandits because the present units made me assume they could recruit lvl 1 units and I knew I had no chance against that.




Pleeeeease don't say in your add-on description that coding was done by 'me', use your forumname instead. D:
Attachments
TH-The Grave Escape replay 20240207-181802.gz
(61.47 KiB) Downloaded 10 times
TH-River Dead replay 20240207-163352.gz
(35.51 KiB) Downloaded 11 times
User avatar
Graziani
Posts: 179
Joined: December 20th, 2010, 1:04 am
Location: France

Re: The Harvest - a Myth: The Fallen Lords ispired scenario emulating a core campaign experience.

Post by Graziani »

Loved the first scenario. You can feel the scary situation that the poor villagers are living.
I loved the concept of mini dialogs for the villagers. It's amazing.
It was a stressful scenario !
Beated it in medium in 30 turns (pfiou !)
I barely managed to upgrade the dwarf to lvl 2.
Gonna start the second one !
Attachments
TH-River Dead revoir la partie 20240208-232527.gz
(33.37 KiB) Downloaded 9 times
Creator and maintainer of "A goblin adventure" (available) and "From Rocks and Blood"(available) --- Working on a new campaign "Facing Death"
Post Reply