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- Nov 8, 2009
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Following the ultimate triumph of the Alliance of Lordaeron over Doomhammer's Horde, the scattered refugees of the First War slowly drift back into southern Azeroth after a lengthy exile. However, fortune has yet more trials in store for these hardy survivors, as they are soon to realize that homecoming is not without its own perils. The defeat and pacification of the orcs, far from priming the lands of Stormwind for recolonization, has created a power vacuum into which local warlords and brigands have surged, seizing control of lands and fortresses once held by the noble houses. Compounding this situation, the houses themselves are unable to agree upon rightful ownership, and so two factions, the venerable House of Altmark, and the esteemed House of Nordmark, square off in the border marches east of Redridge. Here, the Marcher Lords ready themselves for battle with both their erstwhile allies and the bandit usurpers, as they seek to bring these fertile lands under their own dominion. The call to arms has been raised!
Marcher Lords is a multi-class team-based strategy game taking place in a loosely medievalized setting. My overarching goal was to create an RTS experience built from the ground up to explore some of the unique gameplay possibilities of large team formats, such as leveraging the skill gaps between players as a positive catalyst for immersion and emergent narrative while simultaneously cultivating a (somewhat relaxed) sense of competition. Finally, I really wanted to do something with a richly medieval theme, as sieging and defending castles across a dynamic battlefield is just too awesome. Towards that end, Marcher Lords is absolutely chock full of delicious castle-y goodness!
Marcher Lords offers semi-autonomous 4v4 teamplay, contrasting frequent periods of solo activity with sporadic cooperative operations, heavily regulating communication (i.e. vision), and offering two distinct player classes to promote a unique style of teamplay.
Marcher Lord - The idea here is for you, the player, to don the figurative spurs of a feudal lord, spending much of your time carving out a mini-empire of your own, yet ever-ready to saddle up and answer the call-to-arms of your liege lord. Your primary tasks are assembling vast warbands, besieging/defending castles, and battling rival lords and brigands in the field. There are also numerous non-combat activities such as counter-espionage and caravan escort which both encourage player cooperation and strengthen the map's medieval theme. Furthermore, Marcher Lords may freely mix and match three avatar specialization lines (Battlemaster, Horseman, and Engineer) while simultaneously making the choice to focus upon either castle development or mercenary recruitment. Each side may field up to three Marcher Lords.
Royal Castellan - If you wish to serve in a more administrative role, then this is the class for you! As a Castellan, you will be tasked with running trade caravans (daytime), maintaining a spy network (nighttime), and generally helping your teammates coordinate operations more effectively. However, Castellans are not themselves able to field armies, nor are they able to capture their own castles, for the King is ever wary of too much power being concentrated in one person's hands! Both teams are permitted a single Royal Castellan.
The map is dotted with castles (of both stone and earth & timber varieties), which offer many opportunities for both swift capture of under-garrisoned fortifications through direct assault, or lengthier sieges of attrition to starve out heavily defended locations. If you chose the former option, you have six siege engines (such as siege towers, rams, and trebuchets) to choose from, which are constructed on-site and supplied by a forward siege camp, while if the situation requires the latter approach, you may enlist the help of covert agents in poisoning water supplies as you tighten your blockade. Just be sure no merchant caravans slip through your lines and resupply the enemy keep!
In order to suit the map's medieval theme, I've totally redone the game's combat dynamics, transitioning onto a system which broadly distinguishes between four semi-historical unit classes. Melee(Infantry), Spear(Infantry), Cavalry, and Ranged troop classes are offered, spread out amongst 26 different unit types (as well as 9 possible hero types) which the player may choose from. Compared to Warcraft 3, the overall combat style places much more emphasis on "macro level microing" of groups of units (as opposed to individual units) through positioning and timing of powerful, short duration abilities. As an example, units from the heavy cavalry sub-class possess a Charge ability, which begins a short period of accumulating momentum. Upon reaching a certain threshold the unit will enter full charge, receiving a very large buff to movement speed, and causing immediate damage and knockback to any enemy formations it comes in contact with. However, this window of opportunity is somewhat brief, meaning charge too early and your troops will tire and return to a trot before reaching their target, charge too late and they won't have enough time to reach a proper speed. My hope is that players find the combat style engaging, appropriate to the setting (i.e. flavorful), and sufficiently distinct from the Warcraft 3 Melee experience.
Espionage in Marcher Lords is generally comprised of three facets; reconnaissance, sabotage, and counter-espionage. These tasks are in turn largely handled by Scouts, Spies, and Inquistors, respectively. The Scout spends much of her time camouflaged in the forest, observing enemy troop positions from relative safety and periodically broadcasting her vision to allies, helping them coordinate their activites. Assisting them in a different sort of way, the Spy infiltrates rival castles, seeking to sabotage (reducing armor and vision), poison, or even plant volatile explosives inside enemy structures. Finally, the Inquisitor specializes in putting a stop to all this mayhem by rooting out these agents, as she possesses an uncanny sixth sense (read: paranoia!) for detecting their presence. Lending even more of a dynamic feel to this tense game of cat and mouse is the fact that most stealth abilities are tied to the day/night cycle.
The centerpiece of Marcher Lords' trade system is the caravan. Assembling and leading great mule trains, the Merchant hero journeys across the vast marches so that he may hitch his caravan at distant (and ludicrously profitable!) markets, all the while carefully managing the fatigue of his animals by visiting watering holes, making sure they stay well fed, and endeavoring not to overburden them with too much cargo. He must be ever wary of the rising moon however, for a homeward bound caravan returning from a long journey, weary and laden with exotic goods, proves an irresistible target for robbers and bandits who relish the opportunity to go about their nefarious work under cover of darkness.
Paranoid Inquisitor
Caravan Laden with Goods
Royal Keep (Infiltrated by Saboteur)
Earth & Timber Fort
Heavy Cavalry at Full Charge
More videos coming soon . . . and I don't mean http://www.wowwiki.com/Soon!
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of the image links. Thanks for the heads up!
, and thought it might be fun to upload a few videos demoing gameplay for the Marcher Lord (~General) and Royal Castellan (~Merchant/Spy). If anyone wanted me to cover something specific, feel free to post your request, as I'll probably be recording them within the next few days, possibly tonight!
It's coded mostly in vJASS (good amount of plain JASS as well though), and I've tried to keep lag in mind while designing the systems, but only actual bnet testing will tell us for certain how much more optimization and streamlining is necessary.
