[Defense / Survival] Darrowshire: Dawn of Infinite

[The Nightmare Book]

DARROWSHIRE: DAWN OF INFINITE

"What if?.. Scenario, full of time twists, enigmatic adventures, and unexpected encounters!"

OVERVIEW

A hero defense with an AI base-commanding ally map, where you need to defend the iconic village - Darrowshire - against its enemies across different timelines.
Inspired by the original "Battle of Darrowshire" map, which is inspired by Zeratul SC2 missions, and deeply - with SC2 Arcade map "Crap Patrol 2".

Your main hero will be the enigmatic bronze dragon Chronormu, or Chromie. She often finds herself in mortal trouble, and this story is another example of such.
Level your Chromie, save your progress, travel across different timelines, solve mini-games, and finally - save these people once and for all!

STORY

All story is driven by our enigmatic friend - Chromie!
"This story is about the fierce defenders of their native land, Darrowshire, from the wicked army of the living dead, led by Marduk Blackpool...
But something is amiss.

Can you figure out what has gone wrong and fix the timeline or Azeroth will face terrible, terrible consequences?
Fear not, an enigmatic Chromie will help you with that!
Somehow."

FEATURES

WHAT IF?..
The whole idea of "Darrowshire: Dawn of Infinite" is this question. Experience story of desperate defense against vile Scourge from new, well, from different perspectives thanks to... Thanks to Chromie!

TIME RAPTURES
Level Chromie the Mage and play any role you want: tank, damage dealer, buffer, summoner, healer. You can build any build, even unworking ones.
Aiming to provide free ability change, in "Darrowshire: Dawn of Infinite" you decide how you'll deal with enemies!
Expect strange passive skills, talents, and weird random bonuses - Chromie is dealing with capturing time, and who knows what she will find there...

TEMPORAL ALLIES
Fear not: Chromie can fight for her own. But even she needs allies in such a problem. You'll meet different allies from different sides of this story.
Who knows, maybe at one time YOU will burn this village down to ashes...

PARADOX UNLEASHED
An onslaught of crazed chicken farmers from the puzzled universe? Cross-story with Alternative Chromie? Meeting creatures from Sanctuary or Coprulu Sector?!
"Darrowshire: Dawn of Infinite" is a perfect example of randomness at maximum - unleash anomalies that will turn around your playstyle, enter time pockets, and get phat loot.
Your game, your rules. And they could intertwine with each other...

MEDIA

MODELS	ICONS & ART	MUSIC & INSPIRATION	MISCELLANEOUS
Wizard Apprentice and mounted variations Ethereal Broker Reforged Dragons With Wow Animation Hourglass <Optimized> Dominated Kael Selection circle -Optimised Aeonus Lots of doodads Part Ⅱ HeroGlow	Bing AI for creating frame images and loading screen images; Icons from WoW, link; Wowhead, link;	For Music: WoW Dragonflight Dawn of Infinite Soundtrack WoW, Death of Chromie Soundtrack and Bronze Dragonflight music; Stormwind - Music & Ambience; For Inspiration: "Crap Patrol 2" from Starcraft 2 Arcade; Zeratul Campaign from Starcraft 2 WOL; Warcraft Lore, why not; "Dawn of Infinite" Dragonflight Dungeon;	Special thanks to dear parents, and communities of HIVE, XGM.GURU, communities of corresponding Discord servers, and community of Warcraft 3 at all! Thank you for your support!

Development Diary:​

1. January 26, 2024 - "Control your Ally";
2. February 01, 2024 - "Darrowshire Re-Imagined";
3. February 12, 2024 - "Darrowshire New Gameplay... Wait!";
4. February 27, 2024 - "Chromie: The Hero";
5. March 9, 2024 - "Anomalies";
6. ??? - "Showcasing Darrowshire: Tutorial, Anomalies, Spoilers";
7. ??? - "TimePockets: Timed Trials?!" + "Ally AI Design Changes";
8. ??? - "Threads of Time" + "Chromie: Redesigned";
9. ??? - "Replayability"
10. ??? - "Release Message"

RELEASES

"Darrowshire: Dawn of Infinite" has no playable releases yet, but I'll message you when something playable is ready.
For now, you can play the latest "Battle of Darrowshire" version to get familiar with a basic idea of this new project, link below:

DOWNLOAD "BATTLE OF DARROWSHIRE"

I'd appreciate any bug reports, suggestions, and tips!

"Y̸̢̽̈́̐͗̍̍o̶̡͙͔͎̿́͛̇̇͌̅u̴͖͕̱͔̭͙̎̒̈́͜͠ ̷̞̞̞̘̞͋̎̃̓͝w̶̳̱͙̟͊̉̊̇͝o̴̜̝̾̍̃n̶̨̨͉̗̄̓̆͑'̴̗͔̅̌̿̃̚t̵͈͇̰̠̎̀̄̈́̾͆͘ ̴̛̼̦͎̌̍̌͌̔r̸̰̍̎͑u̷̡̿͝i̴̮̇n̸͓͙͛̿ͅ ̸̢̛͓̜̥̱̫̣̂̅̐m̷̛͓̗͔̹̺͇̈́͊̿̓̀y̵̰̣̭͓͉̠͑̎̾̎͘ ̵͕̗̙͠t̴̡̖̪̉̅̇͆͊͜͝i̶̢͋͑̒̿̅ͅm̵̩͇̗͉̖̻̠͛͛̈̈́̓̂ë̵͙͕̫̱̹́̊̀̈̿ͅl̵̢̪͉͗̎̿̃̀̄̚ͅį̴̡̛̩̦͛̈̀̈́ͅń̷͈̯̫̞ͅe̴̮̒̅̌!̶̹̙̱̬͊͜!̸̢̼͓̗͉̩̯͇̘̮̪̎̇̾̉͘"

 

[The Nightmare Book]

Well, here goes nothing, I guess?

---

Another project, new for this year.
Aiming to finish it as soon as possible, cause I want to test some sort of things here and catch up my other WIP maps.

Currently map landscaping is finished, and I'll slowly showcase You how ingame locations will look like. Expect in coming days more screenshots of anything: landscapes, frames, heroes, etc...

I'll appreciate any of your question, gladly read all of your suggestions and tips!

 

[The Nightmare Book]

Hey folks, map development continues steady as it goes.
Here I'll post development screenshots of landscape, heroes, interesting dialogs, etc - anything at all!

Darrowshire: Dawn of Infinite

www.hiveworkshop.com

 

[deepstrasz]

What's different from Battle of Darrowshire that it can't have the same thread or be an update?

 

[The Nightmare Book]

What's different from Battle of Darrowshire that it can't have the same thread or be an update?

Many are similar, but many are different:

• They share the same story plot at first: Scourge is attacking Darrrowshire.
• Battle of Darrowshire is base survival, DDOI is hero defense + RPG + Puzzles + Story;
• Battle of Darrowshire is a small map, DDOI is huge and contains different types of content;
• Battle of Darrowshire is about using limited amounts of your resources, while DDOI is about leveling your hero and unlocking new features for him;
• Battle of Darrowshire was focused on survival, DDOI is focused on hero gameplay, while helping AI Darrowshire Base Player;
• In Battle of Darrowshire game punishes you for losing, while the DDOI game will reward you at most;

The topic and starting point are the same, same as some mechanics like "Monster Almanac", but DDOI is a wider, cross-genre map and should have more replayability.
Consider it as a sequel to the Battle of Darrowshire.

---

In the coming days, I'll share more information about this project, the mechanics it will have, sample puzzles, easter eggs, heroes & villains and gameplay video.

 

[The Nightmare Book]

Dev Diary #1

---

...The first development post will be small and feature next - your Ally AI.

---

CONTROL YOUR ALLY

A bit of trivia: I have never used Jass AI or AI Editor in Warcraft 3, cause I never developed any Altered Melee maps yet. But for DDOI I decided to lift base building pressure from the player and give it to a simple, clunky yet functional AI Base Ally.

While you're playing as powerful bronze dragon, your ingame task will be helping your Darrowshire ally or something else survive for long time enough, and then face the boss of the timeline and defeat him together. You'll be able to help your allied player to build quicker, to find more resources, thus he will upgrade valuable bonuses for both of you.

TYPES OF ALLY?

You, as a player, will be able to select AI Type or AI strategy on each timeline start:

• You want AI to focus on unit building and creep through the map and level his heroes? You can choose such a strategy.
• Or do you want AI to build towers and focus upgrades on his defense? AI can be forced to do it too.
• Balanced approach?
• Building expansion bases and a small yet fully graded army to quickly defend them? Why not?
• Or build 3 heroes as soon as possible?

Your ally will have a lot of upgrades to utilize for himself but do not expect that you can chill while he defends himself solely. Enemies will slowly build up their push and you should expect a sudden defense break - if you lose your AI Player and something else, you'll be forced to replay the timeline again. More about victory/defeat in the next development diary.

VIDEO SHOWCASE

And the last thing to share is this small video. It shows basic AI, that I've done with AI Editor. It can creep, it can defend, it can upgrade.
The video doesn't feature the final version of AI Ally, but rather a glimpse of what he'll be able to do.

---

Thank you for your attention, I hope that you have found this article interesting and a bit funny, heh.
See you next time in the next development post, which will arrive in the coming days.

 

[LordTriggers]

I love the idea of working alongside a customized AI to achieve victory, cant wait to try this map!

 

[The Nightmare Book]

I love the idea of working alongside a customized AI to achieve victory, cant wait to try this map!

I love it too right now - it helps both AI and player utilize their strength to compensate for their separate weaknesses.

 

[The Nightmare Book]

Dev Diary #2

---

This development diary won't be long, as nothing new has happened in Darrowshire.

---

DARROWSHIRE RE-IMAGINED

First, I'll share some new location screenshots that Chromie will visit during her timeline adventure, and here they are!
Those new images will be loaded to the DDOI album on HIVE - check it, if You haven't saw it before

​

GAMEPLAY CIRCLE

Let me be simple: the whole gameplay is divided into 2 parts: Limbo and Timeline.

LIMBO​

Your base camp, your "primary Darrowshire". Here Chromie and the other heroes will meet together, discuss some story plot details, and prepare for the next adventure to fix Azeroth's timeline.
Each time you visit this place it will slightly change, offering new guests to visit, unlocking previously hidden secrets, or adding new content to existing ones. Mini-games, small quests for leveling Chromie, changing Chromie role and spell setup - Limbo offers many activities and progressively increases reward from them.
Don't worry, Darrowshire will have enough hints to provide you full understanding of things here!
After each attempt to resolve the timeline - successful or failed - you return to Limbo to prepare for next one.

TIMELINE​

Your main tasks are to travel across different alternative timelines of Darrowshire and resolve conflicts, that appeared due to some story plot event. Each timeline is distinctive from the others: in one timeline you are helping Darrowshire survive against Bloody Prideful Horde, in another - repel the invasion of Forces of Nature, helping the undead.
In each timeline, Chromie will find different tasks to do, that randomize each attempt to resolve timeline conflict.
Timeline hosts a powerful boss and you need to resolve conflict first to face him. If you failed to defeat him - don't worry, in next attempt you'll start directly from boss battle.
Each timeline holds different rewards, so you can revisit them if you need to!

---

x
This one was a bit short, huh? Well, I thought that telling You about the gameplay circle would be better now, than sharing it with a lot of information in the next development diary.
Next dev diary will feature more information about new plots, heroes you'll meet, enemies you'll fight, and new gameplay videos.

Stay tuned, and see you next time, in the coming dev diary in the coming days.

 

[The Nightmare Book]

Dev Diary #3

---

This development diary won't last long, as nothing new happened in Darrowshire.
Oh, did I say it before?.. Or did I say it the first time now? Never mess with timetraveling...

---

DARROWSHIRE NEW GAMEPLAY... WAIT.

"And your spirits once again may be at rest in Darrowshire…"
Sounds and looks pretty familiar, right? Same story, same heroes and villains... Is this kind of trolling or not?
Well, lad, when you mess up with timelines, it's hard to tell that you aren't reading the text that you read yesterday.

Let me tell you something next:

STORY REIMAGINED

"...tells the story of Darrowshire, a village in Lordaeron ravaged by the Plague of Undeath. The prince has turned traitor, leading to despair among the villagers who feel powerless against the growing threat.
However, Captain Redpath, leader of the village militia, rallies the people, invoking their loyalty to their homeland and their determination to fight for their king.
As the undead siege begins, bravery knows no bounds, but even experienced warriors fall to the dark magic of Death Knights like Marduk."

Feels familiar, right?

"...Everything changes with the arrival of an unknown figure. Redpath, seeing only blur and mist, heard a voice - a voice called itself Chromie. He was happy - Light finally heard his prayers and had gifted them with his angels.
But what will happen next no one would ever thought of..."

...Sadly this was the ending of what I overheard in the local Darrowshire tavern. Sounds crazy, right? Some sort of angel descends from the sky and helps helpless villagers resist inevitable doom.
Pffff.

Who is that "Chromie" and what will happen next - well, it would be high spoilers to tell you, but you can understand that this intervention was just only the beginning of this time paradox...

---

OLD FRIENDS

Well, lad, let us travel slightly back in time and speak about heroes, who will gladly help you in this adventure. I'm sure that you know them already.

CAPTAIN REDPATH	DAVIL LIGHTFIRE
Brave and village militia leader. Wasn't he slain by MARDUK BLACKPOOL and raised to be his pet ghost? Nah, he would laugh at you and say that you're mistaken him with someone else.	Traveling paladin, who occasionally joined Darrowshire in desperate fights and died, slain by his past friends? Such blasphemy to call Saint Davil dead!

As you can see, something has changed. More details you'll learn by yourself - how this little "help" changed everything.

---

NEW HEROES...

AND VILLIANS.

Meet enigmatic Chromie - your main hero, at first sight little gnome, but truly powerful bronze dragon, who decided to understand what's going on, and possibly - help unfortunate souls.
But, as always, someone darker will try to stop her in her valiant quest...

This shadowy dragon tries to be as secretive as possible, but sad for him I know who he is - Epoch Hunter!
Sad for me that's all I know about him. But you - Chromie - should be beware, as he comes for you.
And he'll get what he needs.

---

x

This one was a confusing, huh?
I can tell you that I'm confused myself too. Currently, I'm posting a lot of videos on my channel (hey check it up, link), so development goes slowly. But. But I can swear to you - the next dev diary will be focused around Chromie: her powers, her aliases (yep), her weaknesses, and her favorite chocolate.

Stay tuned, and see you next time, in the coming dev diary in the coming days.

 

[The Nightmare Book]

Dev Diary #4

---

This development diary won't last long, as... You know what: some real-life problems and their solving, no time left for proper developing.
Today we will speak in short about Chromie, shall we?

---

CHROMIE: THE HERO

"Lost time is never found again... Oh, never mind - I found it!"

Maybe you know who is she or maybe you have seen this character for the first time in your life. Don't worry, "Darrowshire: Dawn of Infinite" could be called "Chromie Adventure" or even "Chromies Adventure" - you'll see her in many guises, including that iconic gnomish.

Chromie is a young bronze dragon, trying to hold on to Azeroth history and timeline. Cause something really terrible happens just on the map start, Chromie will hardly work to fix the mess during the whole map story gameplay.
As I stated before - her draconic power will allow her to use both of her forms: visage and dragon.

VISAGE	DRAGON

I didn't show you a visage form?... Well, Chromie has a serious problem here and got caught in very strange timeline.
Think about something of Grand Lord-Protector Garithos, if you want.

---

CHROMIE: ALIASES

...Enough about timelines and chronofluxes, let us continue talking about Chromie and her aliases.
Unlike other dragons, bronze dragons often shows up in different timelines with appropriate disguises. You cannot help night elves during War of Ancients, while having a draenei visage.
In gameplay terms, it means little, cause you will have two forms - visage and dragon - but in different timelines, you'll encounter different Chromies, who can resemble sometimes very strange choices. Sometimes Chromie should fight against Chromie, time is messed up so hard.
Maybe in some timelines, you'll be known as a wandering human wizard like that:

On another - as undead. Or chicken. Or quilboar. Or lizard. Or flying rock.

Many of such visages have specific rules of appearing, mostly restricted to configurable game rules - chrono-anomalies. More about them I'll share in the next devdiary, cause the whole idea is a huge WIP!

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CHROMIE: POWERS AND WEAKNESSES

Ah, before we continue - her favorite chocolate is dark chocolate. Don't ask me why - you'll see in-game why it so valuable in terms of map plot.

Let me share something about Chromie gameplay:

• Chromie will be, initially, a balanced hero - capable of self-healing, slight tanking, and dealing spike damage toward enemies.
• In terms of magic: time, arcane, sometimes nature, and elemental magic you'll find.
• When you die in the timeline, Chromie will revive in the AI Ally base if it still exist. If not - you'll be pushed out of the timeline and need to start again.
• As I stated before, your most valuable feature is her full ability customization. Instead of relying on archaic restrictions, Chromie can choose a specialization - basic way and then pick any ability - passive or active - into her build, creating the most efficient buildup for the current situation;
  Spells could be randomized if you don't want to choose yourself, or you can use your Limbo Timeglass to reconfigure the current setup.
• Spells, spells... Spells are divided into categories: tank, damage, heal, control, summon, and general. In terms of interface imagine yourself a book with pages, where each page is a category and has listed active abilities to choose and passive to learn.
  Yes, you choose only active spells during progression, but your passive applies globally to the hero; you cannot learn all of them in map
  You can unlearn passives you don't like, however.
• Cause the map won't be big, I won't add 100 active spells and 500+ passives. However, each spell category will have at least 3 QWER spell-lists.
  Currently, I stick towards basic WC3 UI, if I decide to use custom - I'll probably remove spell restrictions.
• Do you remember AI Ally? His specific buildings will unlock timeline temporal buffs, which you can find in your Limbo Timeglass just before jumping into a new timeline!
• Each defeated boss will reward you with permanent time scales - a choice between 3 upgrades, that could tweak your current build. They last forever and won't be changed if you go random mode.
• You can always test your Chromie ability setup in special test arenas, accessible shortly after the tutorial chapter.

---

x
That wasn't long, huh? However, I should notify you that all of this is will be worked or reworked in some ways.
The next development diary will be about something unusual in "Darrowshire: Dawn of Infinite" - anomalies.
When it will be? If I got myself to work over the map - in the coming days, probably.

Stay tuned, and see you next time - cause Chromie will visit you sooner than you imagine!

 

[The Nightmare Book]

Dev Diary #5

---

Okay, today I'll be as short as possible. I hope.

---

NEWS ABOUT "BATTLE OF DARROWSHIRE"

• It isn't related to "Darrowshire: Dawn of Infinite", but to a map-prequel.
• I want to update it, fixing some broken "balance wheels" and possibly remaster player heroes, also including hints to this sequel. It will be released as soon as possible, possibly map will be named "Battle of Darrowshrie Remastered". No radical changes like AI voice lines or something like that, only tweaking already implemented content.
• I'll share a video walkthrough when I release it, I assume - it will differ from the current map version gameplay.

Enough about the past, let's talk about the present and future as we have time to speak of:
Anomalies in "Darrowshire: Dawn of Infinite"!

---

ANOMALIES

• Read them as "timeline modifications";
• In each timeline you play, starting from tutorial one, you'll notice different semi-random modifications occurring during this timeline. If you played Starcraft 2 Co-op, you probably tried mutators:
  

  
• Or played retail WoW starting from WoW Legion and participated in Mythic+ Dungeon runs:
• 
• So get the idea - anomalies are preselected additional effects, that will affect both players (you and your AI ally) and your enemy, including neutral creeps. This is replacements for already existing events, so Chromie will know what exactly she faces of in the new timeline.
• You cannot have a timeline without anomalies.
• You can add additional anomalies before entering a new timeline. The maximum amount of anomalies for the timeline: 5; In default, you'll have 2 anomalies for a runnable timeline.
  2 anomalies are the minimum to start up your timeline!
• Anomalies are unique and don't stack.
• Anomalies would have custom UI or not. But you'll get a way to learn your current anomalies in the timeline.
• Selected difficulty upon map start affects difficulty of your anomalies.
• You can randomize your anomalies or select them manually. If you want to run an already completed timeline, you can remove preselected anomalies and set up yours.
• The more anomalies you'll have, the more Chromie will get exp. And you'll need exp in order to unlock your hero spells...
• Some anomalies are restricted to specific mini-dungeons or mini-puzzles that I call "time pocket", more about them later.
• A general list of anomalies I'll share later, perhaps with the next gameplay showcase video.

---

x
That wasn't a wild ride today, as I tried to be as strict as possible. The next development diary will be released when I have something to showcase, I'll notify you when it will be ready

Darrowshire continues to live its normal life, it seems.

 

[LordTriggers]

These are great game ideas in general, really awesome stuff!

 

[The Nightmare Book]

These are great game ideas in general, really awesome stuff!

Why thank you, of course. I appreciate that. There's more to discuss, like "time pockets" or "chrono-threads". Only time will tell when and where

 

[The Nightmare Book]

NEWS ABOUT "BATTLE OF DARROWSHIRE"​

• It isn't related to "Darrowshire: Dawn of Infinite", but to a map-prequel.
• I want to update it, fixing some broken "balance wheels" and possibly remaster player heroes, also including hints to this sequel. It will be released as soon as possible, possibly map will be named "Battle of Darrowshrie Remastered". No radical changes like AI voice lines or something like that, only tweaking already implemented content.
• I'll share a video walkthrough when I release it, I assume - it will differ from the current map version gameplay.

Actually about "differing" It was a bold move, core gameplay remained the same as the previous versions. So I won't release another walkthrough cause of that.

You can try it here by yourself:

Battle of Darrowshire: Remastered

And your spirits once again may be at rest in Darrowshire…

www.hiveworkshop.com

I hope that you'll find it challenging and fun enough

 

[The Nightmare Book]

x
That wasn't a wild ride today, as I tried to be as strict as possible. The next development diary will be released when I have something to showcase, I'll notify you when it will be ready

Darrowshire continues to live its normal life, it seems

Today is the day of announce of announces.
As I continued working on this project, I felt that I was a bit random in sharing ideas or showcasing some stuff. Alas, some ideas are already changed, like Chromie's gameplay style, so I want to share with you some sort of schedule - when and about what I'll tell you in upcoming development diaries.
I want to end with devdiary 10, which will mark map release on HIVE.

Here's my schedule:

1. January 26, 2024 - "Control your Ally";
2. February 01, 2024 - "Darrowshire Re-Imagined";
3. February 12, 2024 - "Darrowshire New Gameplay... Wait!";
4. February 27, 2024 - "Chromie: The Hero";
5. March 9, 2024 - "Anomalies";
6. ??? - "Showcasing Darrowshire: Tutorial, Anomalies, Spoilers";
7. ??? - "TimePockets: Timed Trials?!" + "Ally AI Design Changes";
8. ??? - "Threads of Time" + "Chromie: Redesigned";
9. ??? - "Replayability"
10. ??? - "Release Message"

I want to say that this is the final version of the schedule, which will only be changed in desperate moments.

What do you think of that?

UPD:
Some IRL problems caused me to tweak the schedule, but don't worry - development still goes, but very slowly

 

[The Nightmare Book]

Today is the day of announce of announces.
As I continued working on this project, I felt that I was a bit random in sharing ideas or showcasing some stuff. Alas, some ideas are already changed, like Chromie's gameplay style, so I want to share with you some sort of schedule - when and about what I'll tell you in upcoming development diaries.
In total, I want to end with devdiary 10, which will mark map release on HIVE.

Here's my schedule:

1. January 26, 2024 - "Control your Ally";
2. February 01, 2024 - "Darrowshire Re-Imagined";
3. February 12, 2024 - "Darrowshire New Gameplay... Wait!";
4. February 27, 2024 - "Chromie: The Hero";
5. March 9, 2024 - "Anomalies";
6. End of March - "Showcasing Darrowshire: Tutorial, Anomalies, Spoilers";
7. ??? - "TimePockets: Timed Trials?!" + "Ally AI Design Changes";
8. ??? - "Threads of Time" + "Chromie: Redesigned";
9. ??? - "Replayability"
10. ??? - "Release Message"

I want to say that this is the final version of the schedule, which will only be changed in desperate moments.

What do you think of that?

UPD:
Some IRL problems caused me to tweak the schedule, but don't worry - development still goes, but very slowly

In recent days, with all of those IRL problems need to solve and other problems I cannot solve, I felt tired and lost interest in this project. It doesn't mean that I'll abandon it, no.
I was overambitious announcing it and... Just burned out. Sorry.


Yes, I'll post some news about it, not so often as I planned firstly. Until end of the year, this project will be finished. For now I want to do something easy, not hard and interesting.
When it will be ready in some state, I'll notify you