Welcome to the official home board of the Exodus project.
Exodus is a series of classic RTS campaigns for Warcraft 3 telling the story of a brave group of survivors who battle the Undead Scourge and the Burning Legion in a desperate attempt to save what's left of the once mighty kingdom of Lordaeron. It's a dark, immersive tale about desperation, courage, insight, secrets and uncertain future. Starting at the end of events portrayed in The Frozen Throne, Exodus aims at supplementing Warcraft universe with new stories happening in the backstage of canon events to eventually take its own route, explore some themes of Warcraft further and expand its lore with new and original content.
Back in 2010, Macielos released the very first, young incarnation of this project. In 2021 he decided to return to regular modding activity of Warcraft 3 and breathe new life into his old project. Nobody knows, that there was a second, sister project to Exodus, that also reached advanced stage, but it was lost in unfortunate HD crash. We decided to not only resurrect the Exodus, but also to reforge the story and merge into themes of the second, lost project to create something completely new, fresh and original. Setting quality bar to some of our most favorite projects in the community, like phenomenal campaigns of Tomoraider, we spent countless nights drafting idea pool that eventually spawned first chapter of the Exodus story - The Violet Gate. A 12-map long campaign that serves as an introduction to Exodus lore, but also tells a unique story on its own. After long development period, The Violet Gate finally came out into daylight... And we were shocked by positive response of the community :]. Even before the release of TVG, we were sure that we want to continue development of Exodus and build community presence of the project. Now thanks to generosity of the crew of Hiveworkshop, the Exodus has its permanent home.
The Exodus Team is spearheaded by two brothers - a programmer and a graphic designer. One makes things working, while the other makes things pretty. Macielos is the mind behind trigger work, scripting and other technical aspects of the project, while I - Nyctaeus - fulfill all tasks of creative director, art designer and mapmaker. Our synergy of skills provide us with means of satisfying every basic need of the project, that our joint effort later fulfills with story content, lore design and worldbuilding. Our team is slowly expanding as the project settles down and gathers audience. Stefan.K agreed to aid us with his extensive, insider knowledge of veteran WC3 modeller who contributed countless assets to the asset pool of the community. The team is expected to grow and we're already working on new contacts. Who knows what names the fate shall bring to this place...
We want to tell as deep, dark and immersive story as possible, with high focus on rich character development and creative worldbuilding. We want to take you all on a journey to the stranges realms, explore unknown and eldritch, ask important questions about our existence and behaviour, provoke discussion and thought, clash ideas and views... And clash a man with the unknown. We want to expand the Warcraft universe, enrich its known themes and introduce new ones. We want to open the world [yey, no capital
] of Warcraft and follow themes inspired by Beyond the Dark Portal, that we feel neglected and forgotten by Blizzard.
Q: What engine version should I use to play?
A: The Violet Gate should be played on
1.31.1. Further chapters will be based on newest Reforged versions [currently on 1.36].
Q: Do I need Reforged graphics?
A:
No. Exodus is based on SD, and will always be based on SD. I see Exodus as belonging to the same art niche as The Heart of Storms - Heavily modded SD with lots of custom assets.
Q: Is Exodus based on WoW?
A:
Not exactly. We follow a design philosophy of taking inspiration or selected features of WoW continuity, but it evolves on its own. Exodus is like a spin-off of Warcraft timeline, and creative freedom is more important then consistency with WoW. RoC and TFT are canon for Exodus, but when it comes to WoW content, we take out artistic liberties.
Q: If so, will Alternate Draenor, Burning Legion spaceships, time travels or events from Shadowlands happen in your timeline?
A: No.
Q: How many chapters the campaign is planned to have?
A:
Couple. We have content for more then one campaign, but this far the only confirmed installment that's WiP is Exodus 2.
Q: Is there any official name for the sequel?
A: Yeah. So far it's called by acronym
TWF.
Q: You guys seems to be using quite a lot of custom assets. Are you planning asset releases?
A: We do. Stay tuned :].
