[Cinematic] Lord of the Clans - Alternate Prologue

[OutsiderXE]

Lord of the Clans - New Content

Had some time... What do you think?

Spoiler

(the long-term idea is to turn the current prologue into a playable chapter. Gameplay would be playing Durotan and Garona, collecting lumber/gold in the forest and building your defenses and then "surviving" a couple of waves or something like that.

Also I would like to add more chapters in general: Thrall as a Gladiator, escaping the dungeon, maybe another encampment-raid mission. The Gladiator mission would be really interesting as you would get to choose one of different classes for Thrall (Brawler, Berserker, Warrior or something like that, with different abilities for each class. Similar to Rhonin from DotD).

This is NOT an announcement that I am working on these things, and I'm not sure when/if I'll add the new prologue or new chapters.

 

[Deleted member 212788]

Announced or not, this would be an awesome addition to one of the top campaigns for Wc3 - come to think of it - I might replay all of them ^_^

 

[OutsiderXE]

It wouldn't be the first time I say something like "just testing/had some fun trying stuff out/had some spare time" and so on, and a couple of months later the feature is live.

Yesterday I actually downloaded Tauer's new model for Durotan, implemented four abilities for Durotan, redesigned some loading screens and worked a bit on ideas for the new Chapter 1... Then I told myself I realy need to be doing other things right now and uninstalled WC3^^

 

[Deleted member 212788]

It wouldn't be the first time I say something like "just testing/had some fun trying stuff out/had some spare time" and so on, and a couple of months later the feature is live.

Yesterday I actually downloaded Tauer's new model for Durotan, implemented four abilities for Durotan, redesigned some loading screens and worked a bit on ideas for the new Chapter 1... Then I told myself I realy need to be doing other things right now and uninstalled WC3^^

Lol - why the uninstall? xD

There are indeed some great models that have come up since the campaigns originally came out.

Would be awesome to see this come to fruition - I had SOOO much fun with your campaigns the first time around - Last Guardian and DoTD were particularly awesome because of my soft spot for Puzzle RPGs like Legend of Grimrock

 

[Duke]

The line with ''killing defenseless infants'' seems a bit over the top. Makes Guldan look like a cartoon villain.

 

[OutsiderXE]

I remade the first couple of minutes of the old prologue to be the intro for the new Chapter 1.

I haven't added a lot of details as I'll need to see how the new Frostwolf camp can be fit into the existing maps. The other parts (talking to Doomhammer and witnessing Duortan's death will be mid- and outro-cinematics to that chapter).

The good thing about this campaign addon is that I can stop whenever I want and it will still be a nice bonus. Nontheless here's a list of things I would like to add in the long run:

Done:
- New prologue cinematic map

WIP:
- New Chapter 1 playing as Durotan and Draka (about 50% complete)

Planned:
- New Chapter 2 playing as Gladiator Thrall (tutorial-like: choosing ability sets, new cinematics)
- New Chapter 3 escaping from the dungeon
- Variable difficulty levels (Easy, Normal, Hard)
- Update all existing maps to fit new balancing (but DON'T DO TOO MUCH. FOCUS LIES ON NEW CHAPTERS!)
- Any cool ideas you can come up with

Unlikely:
- Additional Interlude (something about Blackmoore/Taretha)
- Additional Chapter playing with Doomhammer liberating orcs
- Artifact items (like DotD)
- Choice system for quests (like DotD - doesn't fit Thrall)

 

[OutsiderXE]

I rarely do any level design planning outside the editor, mainly because I am so bad at drawing and managing space... but yesterday I started working on a Planning Overlay, and I drew some terrain for Chapter 1.

See attached screenshot.

I try to keep it as simple as possible so it's easy to change.

1. I started by placing a red dot (hero unit) to get some sense of spacing (it's usually bigger than it has to be but that's OK). Then, instead of drawing outlines of cliffs on a white paper I used an inverse method: I started with a black background (= unpathable) and carved out "holes" that make up the actual gameplay space.

2. After that I place markers for gameplay objects (here it's simple letter-number combinations that tell me what type of enemy encounters there are) and think about where my cinematics should be.

3. to make the map a bit more appealing I also added some trees (green) and water (blue). For this map this step wasn't necessary but on other maps trees and water can be important gameplay elements.

 

[Rex.]

Good Luck.

 

[OutsiderXE]

Check out the attached file for an overview screenshot of the new Chapter 1 for LotC!

The map is fully playable and only needs some additional fixing. You can play as Durotan and Draka with numerous new skills exclusive to this map.

I'll release it along with the new cinematic prologue, but not before updating the entire campaign. If time allows I'll add multiple difficulty levels for each map. Sadly I won't have time to implement any new chapters I spoke of (Gladiator), at least not on the foreseeable future.

No ETA on the update.