[Role Playing Game] (1) Brownscape: Torment (Working Title)

[Rao Dao Zao]

I've been working on RDZ Industries: Project Y4 for, pretty much, two years solid, so I hope you'll understand if I want to take a little breather before doing the bonus missions.

Back when I was deciding where to go next, all those years ago, it was a toss-up between Project Y4 and a map known only as Brownscape: Torment.

Fast-forward more than two years. The plot-constipation that made Brownscape a no-go back then has, by stress and the attendant sleepless nights, somehow dissipated and I now think I've got enough elements planned out that I can make another attempt to continue the stub I made so long ago.

Brownscape: Torment

It's built on the RdzPG (or rDZpg?) platform -- it is systematically a This Wreckage clone, focusing on a single central hero in an open-ish world with indoor and outdoor areas, sword and shield and item stacking systems, and so on.

In the desert, all is dust.

Lash, the Outcast, lives on the edge of a fortress town in the middle of the desert. He is a Shul'kra -- a dusky, chitinous biped, a "Child of Shul". Exiled for his delving into the ways of magic, in a society that hates magic, he is nonetheless allowed to continue living in the vicinity of the oasis: for even the most callous Shul'kra know that sending anyone into the open desert means certain death.

Hidden

And then one day, a Sage arrives, asking that he be allowed to examine the fabled libraries that the Shul'kra supposedly keep locked underground...

Hidden

---

The Shul'kra

The Shul'kra are based on Olof Moleman's Geonosian model. I recieved personal and explicit permission to perform edits as necessary to create the central characters of the game, so without Olof, Brownscape would never have got off the ground -- massive, massive kudos to him (for he is both w00t, rad and awesome).

The Shul'kra are a very insular people. Outsiders, and poor outcast Lash, are not allowed into their fortress-town. However, as a courtesy against the harsh reality of the desert, they run the Tavern of Broken Wings, where locals and outsiders alike may drink and find shelter from the blazing sun and the terrible, abrasive sandstorms.

Hidden

The Desert

While the oasis around which the Shul'kra make their homes marks the centre of the desert, it is by no means the only accessible part. Travel by night, move underground, use magic or just keep a vial of water with you to stave off the burning heat of the sun. Stay out too long without protection and you will die, but plan carefully and know where you're going and you might just make it through the sea of sand.

The desert might seem featureless, but scattered around are plenty of points of interest. Sunken cave entrances, oases, abandoned buildings from earlier ages -- the mysteries of the Shul'kra won't be uncovered by clinging to the safety of the oasis.

Hidden

And That's It
Keep It Simple, Stupid. Brownscape: Torment will not be a ten-hour epic, it won't revolutionise the genre and it definitely won't fight the engine, silhouetted against the skyline by flashes of lightning. It will, however, hopefully be an intriguing little story with its own quirks and twists...

Discuss
Hi, I'm Rao Dao Zao and I make singleplayer RPGs.

 

[Veritas 117]

This looks like a promising project. I played This Wreckage and really enjoyed a lot of the RPG aspects you put into it. I'm sure this one will be just as good, keep up the good work. +Rep

 

[Vengeancekael]

Hi RDZ, what's it like making singleplayer RPGs?

Subscribed. (Deolrin's gonna get a heart attack)

 

[APproject]

This looks really inspiring and well done. I loved the environment and model pick. Single player for the win by the way.

 

[Rao Dao Zao]

I played This Wreckage and really enjoyed a lot of the RPG aspects you put into it.

To be honest, I'm not actually sure that any of my stuff really qualifies as an "RPG". I guess it fits in the context of hero-focused WC3 maps, if not in the rest of the world.

Hi RDZ, what's it like making singleplayer RPGs?

It is long and hard.

Single player for the win by the way.

Damn right!

 

[Ralle]

You are incredible.

 

[Arcisal]

Looks awesome but I was hoping that it would resemble Placescape slightly more.

I think these short & sweet simple RPGs are the greatest. Just an adventure to play through. You should make more of these. Awesome!

 

[Rao Dao Zao]

You are incredible.

Looks awesome but I was hoping that it would resemble Placescape slightly more.

Planescape: Torment was on my mind when I started the map, and I'm still not sure what its real name will be... So Brownscape: Torment shall do for now.

I think these short & sweet simple RPGs are the greatest. Just an adventure to play through. You should make more of these. Awesome!

Well, more content is better but I don't feel like spending another year or two working on the same project. Luckily all the systems are already in place from the first pass, so Brownscape's turn-around time should be relatively (relatively) quick -- as it'll only be a matter of implementing pure content and scripting plot events.

 

[HOooDy]

Cool! but i have suggestions ...

I know your a best modeller , terrainer , mapper , or other.
but i think you can produce more and more models such as doodads , units , destructables.

 

[sonofjay]

*see another RDZ project*

*faints*

SRPG FTW! <3

 

[Rao Dao Zao]

*see another RDZ project*

*faints*

SRPG FTW! <3

To be fair, I think I'm I'm incapable of making anything that isn't a singleplayer RPG. Even RDZArena was focused on being a singleplayer game.

 

[sonofjay]

Well the fact that you make all your models/skins/other art stuffs and doing all the coding. You already proved to us that you're a great modder. And SRPG maps are more enjoyable to play this days.

 

[Rao Dao Zao]

Since some of the scenes in Brownscape are going to be a little more intimate than any of my previous stuff, I'm looking into doing the occasional funny camera angle. The bulk of the game will be camlocked to Lash as normal, but one-room areas like this mysterious cave will have fixed funny angles.



And here's a picture of the Stone King. He rules a large part of the underground and hates criminals.

 

[AyeKantSpel]

Another legendary RDZ production?
Subscribed.

 

[sonofjay]

Looks great! Though I still have a hang over on your Project Y4 terrain.

 

[Drunken_Jackal]

You. Are. A. God.

You give people like me another reason to play WarCraft 3.

 

[May90]

This is just awesome, as always! Terrain is simply perfect, as well as models. I must give you that, you alone keep me working on my RPG campaign.
+ Rep!

 

[Rao Dao Zao]

Another legendary RDZ production?

Don't people/things have to be dead before you can declare them legendary?

Looks great! Though I still have a hang over on your Project Y4 terrain.

It's not that bad, is it?

You give people like me another reason to play WarCraft 3.

What, you aren't staying around for all the 12-player AoSes?

I must give you that, you alone keep me working on my RPG campaign.

And that's the real reason why I'm still going -- I want to encourage other people to keep the singleplayer flame alive.

 

[Drunken_Jackal]

I barely play those. But still, meh.

Y4 is great. You should have no doubts on it.

 

[Alfagar]

Omg, you're the man! The idea and story are very exclusive. And the creator is awesome.

 

[sonofjay]

It's not that bad, is it?

Nah this is good too. But Y4 is just very unique.

 

[AyeKantSpel]

Living legend! Problem solved.

 

[Rao Dao Zao]

A slightly more reflective introduction to Brownscape.

 

[sonofjay]

1 to 1.5 hours

...

Isn't it too short? Oh well I trust your sense, I'm sure this will be epic like your other maps.

 

[Rao Dao Zao]

Isn't it too short? Oh well I trust your sense, I'm sure this will be epic like your other maps.

That's the point though, innit? I don't want to make another giant epic this time around -- I want to make something a little smaller, a little more intimate. Even so, the plot is still a bit epic in a tragic kind of way.

If it naturally ends up lasting a bit longer than an hour and a half then I won't complain, but I'm not going to go in all guns blazing to make it a monolith.

 

[Ralle]

A slightly more reflective introduction to Brownscape.

Adding it to my "Read it later" queue

 

[creyzi4zb12]

Hey it's Rao Dao Zao, I remembered you in wc3campaigns.net (wc3.net) , you're a pretty good adventure/rpg map maker. You're the one who made "When Freedom Slips Away", I liked that map.
Can't wait to try out your map.

PS: I don't like you very much, but you're one awesome map maker.

 

[asam3]

My Idol, continue on.

 

[LionsRawr]

your maps are always awesome as hell! played them all to completion many times (yes i hold the world record score in This Wreckage LOL)
ps still hoping for the finale to this wreckage!

 

[Kino]

In the open desert screenshot, is the intense yellow colour created by fog or lighting, or both?.

 

[Rao Dao Zao]

My Idol, continue on.

your maps are always awesome as hell! played them all to completion many times (yes i hold the world record score in This Wreckage LOL)
ps still hoping for the finale to this wreckage!

You've been had!

This Wreckage and its ilk are in the process of an ongoing rebuild and rewrite, so in ten years time you might see a real game that is somehow a little familiar. (This is making Brownscape a little awkward in places, because I'm still not sure how much of any crossover material should come from the shonky original or the stronger rewrite. My instinct is that I should stick to the published canon, but the rewrite is so much better...)

In the open desert screenshot, is the intense yellow colour created by fog or lighting, or both?.

Neither!

The intense brightness is an advanced fade filter that uses the additive blend type. It gets more and less intense as your temperature rises and falls (i.e. alpha is set from temperature). Once you hit max heat, Lash goes red and takes high periodic damage until he dies, whereupon he wakes up back at his house with a splitting headache.

 

[Rao Dao Zao]

Some updates!

But not much, though. It's a very traditional WC3 RPG, so there isn't much to discuss -- and obviously I don't want to reveal too much of the plot before the event.

 

[indomitable1319]

I haven't even gotten my fever off This Wreckage yet.
I am really looking forward to this. :>

 

[Rao Dao Zao]

I realised recently that, for living in a land that has very few trees, the Shul'kra sure have a lot of wooden fixtures and fittings.

The solution I came up with is to shamelessly Morrowind and create a new mushroom tree -- it's the Outland mushroom tree browned up and given the Barrens tree's bark. The recipe for all Brownscape doodads is to, well, make them brown.

Everybody loves underground mushroom forests, right? These trees grow above and below ground, but hidden beyond the priests' private area is this sacred forest from whence all the wood comes.

 

[Deolrin]

Nice. Maybe edit the small mushrooms too, and have a few saplings growing here and there? ^^

 

[Rao Dao Zao]

Nice. Maybe edit the small mushrooms too, and have a few saplings growing here and there? ^^

There are small mushrooms visible in that screenshot around some of the edges.

The small mushrooms are healing potions, though, so I expect people to get hideously angry when they discover they can't pick the decorative ones. (Not that I've exactly skimped on item placements so far.)

 

[Deolrin]

Oh, derp. That's true, actually. Excuse me for being a total fool.
Well, if the small mushrooms would be spinning, or blue, or green, or red or something, I trust this wouldn't be a problem? Unless you're absolutely keen on keeping them brown.

 

[Rao Dao Zao]

Well, if the small mushrooms would be spinning, or blue, or green, or red or something, I trust this wouldn't be a problem?

I hope the fact that they've got shadows should be clue enough. They're also a slightly different model -- one of the mushrooms is on its side. We've come a long way from just using doodads for item models, here...

Unless you're absolutely keen on keeping them brown.

Clue's in the (working) title!

 

[Rao Dao Zao]

Moar screenshits, moar!

 

[HOooDy]

Is it another kind of Expedition or what ??.

 

[Rao Dao Zao]

Is it another kind of Expedition or what ??.

What, did you think they'd just hit the coast and stop there? Nuh-uh!

 

[yogiman]

jow man! some News? are u working on 2 Projects parallel?

 

[Rao Dao Zao]

jow man! some News? are u working on 2 Projects parallel?

Not so much in parallel as time-slicing. At this moment I am focusing on Project Y4 R02, but Brownscape is by no means gone or forgotten.