[Campaign] Mathias Chronicles II: Reckoning [Released]

[Med. MapGuy]

Hello! I'm currently working on the sequel to the Mathias Chronicles! Based on Savage Potato's Mathias Part II released way back in 2007, this is the next big single-player campaign by me, Med. MapGuy! This campaign concludes the rivalry between the steadfast Prince Mathias and the crafty Warchief Malakai. Also introducing: The Blackrock orcs and their quest to gain the Burning Legion's favor! This project will feature redone terrain, cutscenes, new models and music. I'm hoping to update this thread and release an early version to the community soon to allow for feedback. Thank you for your support! DOWNLOAD NOW! - Sequel to the bloody original. Over 8 remastered chapters, with a planned secret level! New models, music and so much more! Selectable difficulty. Due to the inability of playing custom campaigns with Reforged, I would suggest playing any future releases with patch 1.29 and below. The campaign is most compatible with patch 1.26 and 1.27. Screenshots February 26, 2021 Update - Posted this announcement.

 

[Veritas 117]

Another campaign by Med. MapGuy. Sign me up. I can’t wait to either play it or watch jayborino play it. Why not both?

 

[gaurdian of the flame]

i can t wait for it i hope that you can release it soon

 

[Lich134]

waiting like hell i'm ready to kill for this campaign love you man and its really good that you make it playable on version 1.26 1.28 and 1.29 i'm gonna try it on 1.26

 

[Heinvers]

Hey @Med. MapGuy this is great news. I hope that I get the chance to play as soon as you can do something :]

Best of luck to you.

 

[Med. MapGuy]

Hello everyone! Thanks so much for the support! I'll be posting a few
of these dev updates for anyone interested, starting with the first level "A Matter of Faith".
Quick question - Has anyone played the original Mathias Chronicles Part II? I hadn't until I
began this project, and to my shock, it doesn't start off with what fate befell Mathias or
Malakai, but with... Blackrock orcs?

Comparison Shot #1

Apparently the remnants of the Blackrock clan become the focus for the first few levels, and
I was initially planning to split Part II into two parts, since I couldn't figure out why
they were involved in the first place. At least with the first level, the story overlaps
with certain events seen in the original Undead campaign from Reign of Chaos. I
was intrigued, where was the original author, Savage Potato going with this?

Comparison Shot #2

As you can see here, I've redesigned nearly the entire level. The original involved
base building action, but I decided to have it structured more linearly, with the
player guiding a few heroes to better tell the story. These are honestly my favorite
types of levels to design, since I can control the pacing of the story better.

Comparison Shot #3

A little bit of the story - The player controls G'Thall, a blademaster who has to meet up
with his ol' buddy Yvros Blackhand. The fact that the player controls Blackrock orcs
reminds me of another campaign I remastered - Shards of the Resistance. That campaign
attempts to rehabilitate the orcs into goody-two shoes, and this campaign, at least in
the beginning, shows orcs as the demon-worshipping brutes they deserve to be. More on
that in the future...

Comparison Shot #4

 

[gaurdian of the flame]

any news

 

[Med. MapGuy]

At the time of this writing, the HIVE's design has been updated, so it now looks all warm and fuzzy.
Anyway, here's a quick look at the second level. Our heroes flee the Undead and are tasked with heading north
for safe haven. As you can see, the original level is empty. All the player had to do was click north and
half the level was done!

Naturally, we couldn't have this. So I added a bunch of trees to help guide the player.
Yep, just like the last level! I really wanted this more "guided" experience (linear) as making these
wide open spaces interesting was just too tough. I don't know fancy coding of JASS or cool UI tricks,
so we stick with the basics.

If I'm being honest, the fact that the original level was so barren made me almost give up
on this project. It was too daunting and I didn't know where to start! But after years of making
this stuff, I learned you have to start small. Break down the level into small, manageable chunks.
Lay out a path for the player and then start detailing one area at a time.

Many ideas came spontaneously, as I was mapping. As I was laying the critical path, there would be
this section where I just decided, 'lets have an enemy base here'. And I would start asking
myself, 'what's the story of this faction?' 'how do they fit into this wider story?'. I wasn't
looking to change much of the original that Savage Potato started. Although it was here that
I did implement a brand new side quest that would have implications in later levels...

 

[JnM]

As always, your project looks dope and makes me giddy as a schoolgirl. Keep it up, you absolute Legend.

 

[Med. MapGuy]

Another quick update. This is the third level of the campaign. The Blackrock orcs have been cornered by the Burning Legion and time's running out! This one also took a while to re-do as it had a lot of little events happening throughout the level. I also couldn't figure out the timing of the enemy's attacks in a way that would be fair or satisfying to the player. This was also the level where a certain character meets their demise, and I thought it was really anti-climactic, so I decided to add this entire new subplot and side quest which could potentially unlock a secret level... which I have yet to work on. Anyway, I'm considering releasing the early BETA of the campaign soon. I have a feeling the campaign is loaded with all manners of glitches and issues that prevent me from committing to a final release any time soon. Be warned, this possible future BETA that I release may only have temp music, temp unit voices, no credits, etc. That stuff is just so tedious to deal with... Thanks again for all the support!

 

[Med. MapGuy]

Hey HIVE! Here it is. The BETA version of Mathias Chronicles II for download. This is a rough version of the campaign, meaning I haven't implemented music, sound mixing and new voice samples yet. All playable levels are here, except for one secret level. I made this with patch 1.27b. If you can't wait and want to see how the story unfolds, be my guest and enjoy! In the meantime, I'm really hoping to get some constructive feedback. I want to release the best version possible, and hope the community can help out. DOWNLOAD THE UNFINISHED VERSION NOW! (204 Megabytes)

 

[Footman16]

View attachment 375820 View attachment 375819 Another quick update. This is the third level of the campaign. The Blackrock orcs have been cornered by the Burning Legion and time's running out! This one also took a while to re-do as it had a lot of little events happening throughout the level. I also couldn't figure out the timing of the enemy's attacks in a way that would be fair or satisfying to the player. This was also the level where a certain character meets their demise, and I thought it was really anti-climactic, so I decided to add this entire new subplot and side quest which could potentially unlock a secret level... which I have yet to work on. Anyway, I'm considering releasing the early BETA of the campaign soon. I have a feeling the campaign is loaded with all manners of glitches and issues that prevent me from committing to a final release any time soon. Be warned, this possible future BETA that I release may only have temp music, temp unit voices, no credits, etc. That stuff is just so tedious to deal with... Thanks again for all the support!

I love what you're doing in improving the quality of these campaigns so much but one question I've always had is about your use of rips/WoW models which imo don't always fit the best in-game especially due to things like a lack of TC. I'm just curious what your philosophy on your custom resources are?

 

[Med. MapGuy]

As many issues as WoW-rips have, such as lack of proper portrait, attack or death animations, absence of TC, inconsistent visual fidelity, I just like working with these higher-poly models. It's the closest thing I'll get to making a WoW fanfilm in a funny way. And with Reforged still a bust for me, I've learned to like working in this style. This doesn't mean I've abandoned working with the classic-WC3 aesthetic, though! Already, I'm possibly starting another project with that style in mind. We'll see how that goes. In the meantime, here's a quick...

Despite the ahem lack of feedback, I've pushed myself into finishing the final stages of the campaign. I've added ambient noises, music and new custom unit responses for the heroes. I've also finally finished the secret level (seen above) I've been talking about. I was really considering cutting it, but what changed my mind was playing through Savage Potato's "Aftermath" campaign. There was a level there that seemed like a great way to wrap up the main story.

It was a tedious amount work, but I worked through each aspect one by one. I just hope it's worth it! I'm still not 100% okay with the gameplay balancing, but I guess we'll see how that shakes out come release day. Which should be soon. Hopefully.

 

[Lich134]

just know man that people are really waiting for this

 

[Warzkins]

I agree with Lich 134, maybe people don't comment to much (because a lot of interesting projects are abandoned before releasing) but we are waiting patiently for the finish.

 

[corellius]

only just finished part one and already blitzing through part 2 with record breaking speed. fantastic work man, please keep it up! the hope of a full mathias campaign remake is basically all thats keeping me going in this insane modern world. i really hope you keep going and remake 3 and 4 too. kel'zarach's tale is one of the best custom campaign stories from the olden days, heck maybe best period. and as far as added/new content or any liberties you take im on board 100% its only you and maybe turnro that id trust to actually write good content lol around here anymore lol.
so yeah, keep it up! we're all rooting for ya man.

also, you might want to consider just slapping aftermath onto the end of this one. its only like 3 missions, and is really just chapter 2 part 2 anyway. that or if you do make it separate still, it would be a perfect spot for any extra missions or side stuff you would want to add. considering part 3 is like its own thing kinda, you should definitely play through part 4 before you make 2.5 so you can use the extra elbow room for that spot to set up any side stuff you would want to do to make the process more fun for you.

 

[Med. MapGuy]

Thanks for everyone's support! I do hope the campaign lives up to people's expectations. The way this particular campaign ends I could pursue a sequel, but given the amount of work and other commitments, I'm not so sure. I guess we'll have to wait and see how well (or poorly) this latest iteration is received. As for looking into Aftermath, I did! I suppose I could spoil it here, but yes, I did use Rutgar's Choice as secret level. A heavily modified version, of course. I hope people get a chance to play it.

Well, it's finally done. I've just uploaded Mathias Chronicles II - Reckoning here on HIVE. Go on and check it out!

It's pretty nerve wracking to release a campaign, I'm always worried I forgot to add this or that feature... or worse, a level fails to actually work or complete. Because of this, I have all the levels, save for the secret chapter, unlocked from the beginning. I was looking into the feedback from the first Mathias and noticed people had version problems and they'd lose progress so I decided to just have all the levels playable in case such a scenario happens. I admit, I barely fleshed out the difficulty options, though if you feel my campaigns are easy, just play on Hard since there is a handicap set.

This was a long and arduous development, made more challenging upon hearing about all the things happening with Acti-Blizzard and there seeming abandonment of Warcraft III. I'm grateful that the community is still chipping at it and hope people enjoy my small contribution!

 

[dongpro98]

Hey, thank for your map. I finished all quest and see the Hint: a secret level after cinematic. However, after that, i cant find any secret level. Just only interlude and dwards level