Vampire Kingdom v1.2

[Moderator]

12:33, 1st Mar 2015
StoPCampinGn00b: Approved based off of Sclammerz' review.

3:51, 7th Feb 2015
Orcnet:

Awaiting Update due to Chaosy and Sclammerz's reviews

 

[WhiteFang]

This sounds interessting but you need to improve your description. Add screenshots,map info,features list etc. Some different colors and sizes would be nice too

 

[Sylvie]

I'll test this now.
You should take a look in this: Map Description - Templates

 

[Yrk]

You should take a look in this: Map Description - Templates

Agree.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Well, It is interesting.

 

[Sclammerz]

Yay! Another campaign! I'll test it.

 

[Mechanical Man]

Played a couple maps, this map is still in no condition to be approved. Things to be fixed:

Cinematics:
It's okay if you can't do skippable cinematics, but at least make pause the game, so your hero doesn't die while in cinematic mode, where you can't control it. Funny, first my hero died, with a defeat message, but since it was final cinematic I won afterwards.

Terrain:
Hard to say a terrain, it's just plain tile you used no decorative doodads, trees and cliffs were used as walls of a maze with narrow corridors.

Quests:
There was quest description so a player can't know what is his objective and to review what is actually happening. You can only make the best guess what is supposed to do. Like in first chapter was obvious the 'exit' was on the opposite side.

 

[Sclammerz]

My Review

Sclammerz's Short Review

MAP NAME: Vampire Kingdom MAP AUTHOR: Vampiral Version: 1.0

TERRAIN:

Not much to say about this. It's plain, so many empty places. You should really pour more hard work at your terrain it's very lacking. Maybe add sky, decorations etc.

SCORE:1/5

GAMEPLAY:

Nothing fancy, warcraft-ish gameplay and nothing wrong with it but there were no Quests in every map? In chapter two I was like what am I gonna do? Then I decided to kill everyone in the map and managed to won. You should really put quests, so the player will know what he will do/objectives throughout the map.

SCORE:2/5

STORY:

This was the best part of your campaign, and I only notice small dialogue mistakes and the story kinda unique on its own way and the cinematics were good but it still need to be improve.

SCORE:3/5

SUGGESTIONS:

The vampire techtree really needs more work, the buildings, units. Maybe you could improve it. Add Quests too, what I've said earlier. The model of Shyra, she was raised from dead, yet her model was sylvanas (alive). It could be better if she used Sylvanas/Dark Ranger model to make her "undead" looking and fitting. Also you really need to have Game Cache to save your heroes from the previous chapter. Add a timer window at the last chapter, so that players will know how much time left to defend the nexus. There were some minor tooltip errors, mind to fix that? Also Improve your thread, add some screenshots, details about your campaign, etc.

OVERALL:

I don't think in it's current state it can be approve by a moderator, Many things need to be improve and fix.

2/5 - NEEDS FIX I vote for Needs Fix.

Nice Words

You've put alot of work on it but still its not enough, work on it harder and maybe it will be approve. Happy Mapping!

 

[Vampiral]

I really appreciate all the Feedback. Much of it is very useful, and I will use it for an overhaul. The only two comments that I really have any sort of issue with are:

1: Providing quests. I don't know how. I couldn't figure out how to have quests respond to what's going on, though I am willing to take another stab at it.

2: The Vampire techtree. I am very aware that it is very spotty. That is intentional. James is cobbling together whatever he can find. He doesn't have any resources to work with, so his stuff is minimalistic by design. If it's really detracting from gameplay though, let me know, and I will overhaul it.

Thank you again for all the feedback. As you may have guessed, this is my first campaign of any kind, and I'm glad to hear anything that helps improve it.

Mechanical Man, which map did that happen in? I'd like to fix it, but I need a little more detail.

Sclammerz, in response to your review, four things.

1: I can't use Dark Ranger Sylvanas, because the ending cinematic has Shyra and Sylvanas in the same room. Plus, vampires have pale skin, not Corpse flesh.

2: Where can I find a Tutorial for how to use game cache, because I couldn't figure it out.

3: Don't ask that, please. I spent an entire day trying to get the timer working before I gave up. I'd need to track down a good tutorial.

4: Tooltip errors? Care to elaborate?

 

[Sclammerz]

First of all. Don't double/triple post at the same time. You could just add some details by editing it. You are only allowed posting another after 48 hours, its against the RULES!!. Anyway there are tutorials here on hive at the tutorial section, Maybe you will find something you need there and take time to read all.
Anyway:
1: Maybe find some skins/model here on hive.
2: Here: read the Game cache section: Basic Campaign.
3: Hmm. What are you talking here?
4: The spells of the ghost hero, his spells has "|cfffff" like that.

Also don't be afraid seeking help at the "World Editor Zone", If you really don't understand some tutorials. Anyway Happy Mapping!

 

[Mechanical Man]

The bug occurs in first chapter, because I just speedran through the whole level, as it's impossible to fight all of those creatures. Near the end are some creatures too, but because you don't have control over the hero anymore, it attack the creeps and eventually dies because of low health and high strength of creatures.

For quests, you can use Quest triggers, you have couple of them, to create quests, then for each quests you have a requirement, after each requirement is complete, you mark them as complete with these triggers, same with quests when complete. To not lose reference to quests, assign a variable for each quest and quest requirement.

 

[Vampiral]

Thanks for telling me. I missed that part. I'm only breaking pattern because I wanted to clarify item 3. I was referring to your suggestion that I have a timer in chapter 7.

 

[WhiteFang]

I think that "|cfffff" should be |CFFFFFF01

 

[Sclammerz]

Thanks for telling me. I missed that part. I'm only breaking pattern because I wanted to clarify item 3. I was referring to your suggestion that I have a timer in chapter 7.

You should take a look at this tutorial: All About Countdown Timer. Anyway nice thread +2! I like neat thread.

Edit:

I think that "|cfffff" should be |CFFFFFF01

Who knows? XD

 

[Vampiral]

Mechanical Man, I appreciate the clarification. However, I wanted to tell you, check the new screenshots. All are from chapter one. See anything that you didn't find? They're a real lifesaver. A little hard to find, but still.

A more public note: I am nearly ready to release the next version of my campaign. However, I am held up by one, massive, play-crippling bug. I added game cache to transition heroes, and barring one minor glitch it works fine enough. However, I CANNOT get Shyra to transition between chapters 2 and 3. If anyone can give me a suggestion, I'd love it, because I've spent almost 8 hours on this, on and off, trying everything I can think of, and even pulling ideas from other custom campaigns to no avail. Once I fix this, I'll release the new version.

 

[Chaosy]

Map Name: Vampire Kingdom Version: 1.1 Author: Vampiral Terrain[r] The terrain is really bad. It really takes away everything reminding of freedom, it's a 2 cm pathway maze. (almost every map in the campaign.) You also got a habit of placing buildings + units reeeeealy far from one another, making it feel extremely empty. I seriously think you could've removed a third of most maps while not harming the gameplay one bit. 1/5 Gameplay[r] As I mention in the terrain section, it really felt like I was alone in the world. Everything was separated and it was a lot of running around rather than fighting, this led me to be rather bored at multiple missions. Also most missions are the same, kill everything that moves. 2/5 Story[r] The story was pretty amazing, I really like the idea of a vampire with the ability to mind control. The whole moving from one world to another was somewhat entertaining. However I also want to bring up one thing.. WHY did you have to make him kind!?! He was awesome and badass during the first chapters and then it became my little pony friendship is magic and I rage-quit and refused to continue with the campaign. So yeah, I didn't play the two last chapters because of that and I also reduced the rating for this section by 1. *end of rage* Also PLEASE make the dialog timers longer, I think I missed 10+ messages because I didn't have time to read. 4/5 Uniqueness[r] A really unique campaign and the characters seem to be almost as unique. Nothing to add. 5/5 Overall[r] Personally it was a pretty dull campaign with a neat story. I'd recommend it for those who want something unique but.. Once more, I really want to praise you for the campaign idea. *lifts hat* 2/5 Bugs[r] Bugs *bugs* -I can't see the elf. I don't remember the exact name of her, but James elf servant. She is not loaded correctly in ANY chapter after the one you 'reqruied' her in. Nor the model or the icon is visible so the unit is basically not spawned. -Each Dreadlord in one chapter drops a orb. However my inventory was full so I couldn't pick it up instantly. And after like 2 seconds the cinematic started and I had no chance of getting the item. *logical flaws* -James mind controls a random elf in the first chapter but then the chapter after he needs to kill before mind controling, wtf? -At the intro of chapter 8 (yes, I only watched the intro, I think it was chapter 8 anyway) James reveals that he has mind controled a few elves but the elf that I can't remember the name of just nods and is happy about it. Shouldn't she be mad for putting other in the same position she was so mad about being in before? Reviewed by[r] Contact Chaosy Contact: Visitor Message, PM

Voting for rejection until updated. Too major gameplay flaws.

 

[Vampiral]

Thanks for review.

@Chaosy Thank you for the review. I'll incorporate your comments into my efforts to update the campaign. I do have a few comments of yours that I'd like to address here and now, both for your benefit and the casual visitor's.

1: 'I can't see the elf.' I am aware of this. It's listed in both known bugs and the Author note. I'm having some trouble with getting her to transition properly. In fact, I only have this version posted to get some help with that very problem. So, thank you for letting me know, but I'm already on it.

2: 'James mind controls a random elf in the first chapter but then the chapter after he needs to kill before mind controlling.' The second instance isn't mind control. Look closely at the dialogue. He turns her into a vampire. Her servitude to him stems from that, not any form of mind control. If you notice, those James controls follow orders without question. Shyra not only questions his orders, but actively tries to circumvent them. How many times does he tell her to shut up?

3: 'At the intro of chapter 7 James reveals that he has mind controlled a few elves but Shyra just nods and is happy about it.' No. She's not. She only backs down once James makes it clear he's not keeping control over them, but rather is turning them over to her. Also, that scene was partially to establish how both James and Shyra have changed.

4: 'The terrain is really bad. It really takes away everything reminding of freedom, it's a 2 cm pathway maze.' Little confused here. Yes, the first three maps are narrow mazes, but at that point I realized I was overdoing it and made an effort to avoid them for the rest of the campaign. Did I miss something?

With regard to your other suggestions, I appreciate the feedback, and I'll make use of it for the next release.

 

[Chaosy]

2. Hm, true enough. So you need to kill a person in order to make him/her a vampire, but if you're simply mind controlling you don't need to do that. And turning someone into a vampire doesn't grant him complete control over the person in question. But Shyra still calls him master (against her will). And I recall James saying that it's impossible for her to attempt kill him. So there is still some influence?
3. I don't really see the huge difference, but I suppose that's ok.
4. I will check one more time.. one second..

edit: In my opinion 1-5 certainly use the maze-like terrain.

 

[Justas]

Its just me or everyone cant see screen shots that he put on?...

 

[WhiteFang]

Its just me or everyone cant see screen shots that he put on?...

I can see the screenshots

 

[Deleted member 238589]

I also can't see the screenshots.

 

[Vampiral]

Screenshots

I have the screenshots in a public album, though when I input the links the album was private. Do I need to do anything else to make them visible? I think Archimond Supreme can only see them because he's on my friends list.

 

[Sclammerz]

make your album to public, so everybody can see it, I can't see it either.

 

[Vampiral]

As I said, it is public. My question was 'Does the fact that the album was private AT THE TIME OF POSTING matter to visibility.' I apologize. I realize I was a little unclear.

 

[WhiteFang]

I'm not sure.Try reposting them.

 

[Sylvie]

That doesn't matter, of the album is now public, the pictures should also be.

 

[Sclammerz]

MAP NAME:
MAP AUTHOR:	Vampiral
MAP VERSION:
REVIEWED BY:

Vampire Kingdom 1.2
Sclammerz

INTRODUCTION
TERRAIN
GAMEPLAY	The gameplay was still the same but now it has quest and I somewhat like the update and it has now game cache. You did a fine job a warcraft-ish gameplay and suchs. Score: 3/5
STORY
SUGGESTIONS	The Vampire techtree needs a revamp, its "messy", improve this please. Highlight the hotkeys of the heroes spells like James have. Fear's buff icon is still the Howl of Terror icon, fix that. In Chapter 2 the quest is somewhat vague "Quest: Find someone to talk to" I was like what?There are many units that there and can talk with, maybe you should change it to: "Main Quest: Explore the Forest" and by any luck the player can bump/reach Shyra. Shyra's model name when she is still a Night Elf was Shandris, you could rename it. Cultists tooltip name was all highlighted Cultist Give Shyra a better soundset Shandris' soundset works better, Banshee soundset just don't fir, if you want to make her sound vampire-ish you could try Sylvanas or Dark Ranger's sound sets. The hero's spell icons (James and Shyra) tooltip places was random, also to some units. Fix them. In cinematics sometimes the speaker doesn't face his/her spoken with. In cinematics sometimes my units was interfering for they are not pause and they move where my heroes are and budged the cinematic. You could Pause all units and unpause the units that has a part in the cine. In the last cinematic where they have a meeting Malfurion didn't pass through the gate for it was close. Fix that please. Also from the last cinematic the meeting the dialogues are fast that I couldn't read them all, please make them a little bit longer. All items that can be obtained are healing items in every chapter. Maybe make it more not like that. some permanent items that could improve the hero could prove useful. In the chapter where you will kill Corthetan the purple dreadlord. "Slay Venselvar" was the quests that was revealed but when I open the Quest Log it was say "Slay Corthethan". Fix that.
OVERALL	I think its currents state is approvable but consider what did I said/suggested above. Even though I voted for an approval and may have the chance to be approve, please update it from time to time. If you want I can help you work on the vampire techtree. Overall Score: 3/5 - I vote for approval

Hello. Vampiral! I did re-review this new update of yours and played it all over again and finished it. So, not much to say. here. The terrain was somewhat improved a bit, but is still lacking. It still looks empty and plain, though you added some decorations but it is still not enough.

Score: 1/5 Well, the story is still the same, yet many improvements made. The cinematics somewhat improved a bit, the dialogues are good too, I didn't notice any grammar mistakes. Overall the story was nice and very unique. Good Job!

Score: 4/5

 

[DD Mikasa]

Great some new blood on the campain section!Will try it and give you a review.

 

[Larios]

Hi!I your campaign is really unique.I love the story you mvde for this custom race and i would like to see a sequel!
So the review:As other members stated the terrain is pretty simple i would like to see that terrain evolve a little and i found some bugs like after the third mission were you need to kill the dreadlord in the fourth mission instead of giving you the name of the dreadlord in the fourth mission it gives the first ones name and in the last mission were you need to survive for 30 minutes i needed to wait 25 minutes instead.P.S Could you make the ai more difficult it felt really easy to pass the missions.
Edit:I forgot to mention that while i played i couldn't upgrade my units even after reloading the game.

 

[Vampiral]

Hi!I your campaign is really unique.I love the story you mvde for this custom race and i would like to see a sequel!

Glad to hear that you enjoyed the campaign. I'm appreciate the notes on the fixes, and I'll patch it when I have time. As to a sequel, I actually have one completed. It's still pending, but hopefully not for much longer. Link:
http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/maps-564/war-dead-v1-1-a-262120/?prev=status=r2&u=Vampiral
Hopefully you like!

 

[Spodacus]

I used enthrall to take a acolyte and summon undead heroes....

 

[flavioG]

Negatives:
1. Too many dead ends that have nothing.
2. Some chapters are the same thing.
3. Very few equip-able items.
4. Games starts as difficult and becomes easy.

Positives:
1. The story is good.
2. Good character development.
3. Heroes have helpful spells.

 

[ShadowShaman.mn]

Ingenoius!

 

[Majkowski]

My opinion

So... I've got really mixed feelings about this campaign. I don't know how to rate it as whole, so I'm just gonna write down positives and negatives.
Note: Didn't play chapter 7, 'cause I just rage quit at the end of chapter 6, I don't even know why.

POSITIVES:
- Original story
- James and Daniel are interesting heroes
- quite well done cinematics
- game cache (not everyone manages to do it)

NEGATIVES:
- Sometimes really boring gameplay
- Terrain is bad, I don't like the "closed corridor" design
- It was all about trying to find the right route to your enemy and avoid all those dead ends


So, my final message for creator, Vampiral, is: You have potential, I suggest you to work on your terrain design and maybe you will provide some really good campaign. Good luck!
P.S.: I'm working on one campaign too, so when I release it, feel free to review it and say your opinion, as I did.

 

[deepstrasz]

This campaign has no thrill, suspense, no feeling of danger, warning. It's plain clickaroo.
It feels, not like you haven't worked to make it but as you've put no love in it.
The gameplay hasn't been given very much thought either. I haven't used any items and only played with the heroes except the times when it took too long to destroy remaining buildings in an enemy base.
By the way the difficulty of the game is easy not normal.
So then...

prologue:
-godly powers, that Daniel has. Why run when he can burn the whole world if he likes?

chap1:
-loose instead of lose in James' ultimate spell description
-how did the night elf Warden know James was undead?
-wait what? How did he hypnotize all of the other women without looking in their eyes (one at a time of course without resistance)? With that power I don't think there was any need to run from the previous world
-at night James is almost invincible taking in consideration Vampiric Aura
-too many Healing Potions and Wards
-basically it's a kill the units on the map thing. It's good it doesn't take long
-the terrain could be less flat

chap2:
-how did they build a base just like that and spawned creatures from nowhere/nothing?
-well they can't exactly be sure they have enemies like hunters, they just got there
-Death Towers can be built even on other buildings...
-enemy units standing in places for what reason, just to be killed?
-I've played the whole chapter with James only
-again terrain is plain flat
-nothing happens after Shyra is turned into a Vampire, no one coming to stop you and try to save her
-what's the point of having a base if there are no attackers? There is no feeling of danger, nothing

chap3:
-why run like Daniel was on their trail? He said they should run not to kill them not that he'll follow them
-why is James so confident they would succeed killing the Drealords without him even knowing what one is or how powerful they are
-it's not very clear, is James a Necromancer too or just a Vampire? If so why can't he raise the dead but get them by his side?
-what's with this place? Humans, orcs, tauren, undead are here. It's a jumble

chap4:
-enemy Peons may be controlled by Shyra and they can build a new base
-the AI doesn't really do much, does not send units to attack, does not rebuild
-Archers now take 2 food points while in level 2 they only needed 1
-Fury's buff does not disappear after the spell fades
-slay Corthethon it says, but I also had to destroy the base...
-how does James know the names of the Drealords?

chap5:
-funny how the way from where Shyra came leads to a dead end. It's where she went to scout on where the player should attack
-why not hypnotize the humans or even the orcs (from the previous level)
-both of the Dreadlords' Infernals just go out to search for my troops somewhere on the map instead of attacking my heroes near them

chap6:
-in the middle of the cinematic a group of blood elves (+hero) attack almost killing James. On starting the level again that did not happen (I also kept pressing ESC at every transmission)
-AIs do not attack the base
-Blue AI's Peasants will stack up trying to get in their mine
-Shyra does not level up anymore (still 7 as in the previous level)

chap7:
-James' abilities change places from a level to another or after a load
-wasn't James supposed to be a stranger to this world? How did he know of Kul Tiras and he said he was planning the control over it for a month, maybe since he arrived?
-Black Castle's title (in the Cultist's build box) has a "|" after "B"
-nexus says 20 mins left but timer shows 24; the timer is 4 minutes behind: at 19 mins a message about 15 mins remaining popped and so on
-the Mountain King says he is here to stop the monster's (my) slaughter. What slaughter? They are the attackers
-I doubt they could hear each other from those distances; anyways I was keeping them grouped and frankly no one is able to overrun the base as the enemy attacks are weak
-there are no upgrades in this game so why would the Bloodlord have the 0's for them?

two years later:
-how did he learn of all the leaders and made them all come. Most of them didn't even know they (Vampiren) existed
-Furion remains inside the chamber near the locked door and James talks about intimacy

I deeply feel this could have been more than better made. Well I don't know if you could do much updating it. Might as well do better on/for a next campaign.

 

[OblivionDeadra]

Errr i know there's a sequel of this campaign map but i couldn't find it so....

Can anyway direct me where the sequel campaign of it?