[Campaign 4] Release & Development topic

[Goth Zagog-Thou]

Ultimate Scavengers + extra stuff that Berg did with the Sandbag models has been integrated for a while now, so anything that Cam 0 would require is already in or could be added easily enough.

I've had some ideas for The Exodus as well over the development of Cam 4.

We could have it be something of a Gauntlet like Cam 4 is, but they also need to sometimes go "out of the way" to grab technologies that are needed. Not quite so hardcore as Cam 4's gauntlet is though. It's a LONG journey so I'm sure some interesting things can be thrown at the player. I could draw up some prototype maps and explore the possibilities.

[Rman Virgil]

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Traversing landscape that causes health decay.

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[Goth Zagog-Thou]

Definitely possible via script.

[Rman Virgil]

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Trick will be to not overdue it to cause frustration as well provide for health restoration the other side of the toxic landscape.

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Bringing up "Citadel" got me to thinking...

Start off the Exodus in the Seattle D.U.M.P. under siege by marauders or some competing faction.

Most of the techniques and assets to do this where deved when we worked on the "Citadel" map-mods. The only thing we didn't do was use an "Underground Sky Box".

Iirc, HB's Ariza tile set was made compatible with the current binary. You can build the D.U.M.P. with that plus some of Elios new structs (maybe some of the structs Pumpkin never used). Make pathways traversible by borgs and scavs only like in "Citadel". Exit the "underground" map to a Seattle Urban map mostly flooded under 2-3 feet of seawater. Follow the coastline down to the Southern Oregon border with California and the Kalamath then start crossing East. The landscapes along that route to the Rockies are stunningly varied.

Something entirely different than what you'll find in ADD Ons, the Original Cam or CAM 4 to date.

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[Lord Apocalypse]

So I guess toxic landscapes could be highly radioactive hotspots or toxic sludge that has escaped one facility or another.

[Goth Zagog-Thou]

All completely do-able.

[Rman Virgil]

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Anything done for a Seattle D.U.M.B. could also be used, with some slight alteration, for CO. NORAD if post original campaign an enemy takes the fight to The Project's main base of Ops.

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I think Pumpkin's Urban tertiles did a good job overall of conveying visual toxicity with the exception of the water tile's gfx - that could use some basic modding to convey toxicity and I think that would do it.
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[Goth Zagog-Thou]

Here's where things are at the moment:

- Balancing continues on the NEXUS Assault event (the one where we save both Transports). Although it may not seem that way, there is a location on the map that is defensible. The main crux of the battle is controlling the choke points, then advancing your area of control from choke point to choke point. A couple of changes to the way things progress would seem appropriate here. What this means is that we will meet the Coalition during M2 rather than at the start of M3.

- More work has gone into the "divergent paths" thing. To be honest it has made the script really gnarly, and it's getting harder to work with. Using Geany has made things easier, but the script is getting larger and larger.

[Rman Virgil]

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How many divergent nodes before you converge ?


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Btw... You may find this gaming article of interest. It's called "Why don't gamers finish games ?" The focus is on the Campaign Mode of games.

http://www.gamefront.com/why-dont-gamers-finish-games/

This one too from the Game Design Forum called "Narrative in Videogames":

http://thegamedesignforum.com/features/ ... games.html


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The best implementation of divergent (or branching) campaign paths leading to multiple endings, IMHO, can be found in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2... well worth playing - and studying for how they pulled off this technique successfully.

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[Lord Apocalypse]

Just need some good scripting for mission branching. Is the WZ scripting system up for the challenge? That was one of the reasons I have been studying the NWN scripting system.

Like the article, though god games and to some respect strategy games seem to fall out of the box as they have very high replay value even if you never follow or complete the campaign or scenarios.

Anyway, as long as the missions are fun and engaging i'm sure cam 4 should be a hit

[Goth Zagog-Thou]

@ Rman: Currently 3 mission nodes, all of which converge at the NEXUS Assault event from different angles. Remember the "original mission path" where we go through M1 ~ M5? That still happens on the mission branch where you save one or the other Transport but not both.

The mission branch where you save BOTH Transports is the one I'm currently finishing up/fleshing out. The one where the player saves neither Transport is still open for design -- I wasn't happy with how the original idea panned out (even though the scripting is still in place for that mission), so something else will have to be figured out for that one.

@ LA: That's what has been in place for a while now. Give Cam 4 a spin once I have Release-18 out (in a few days) on 3.1 ... I think you'll enjoy the twists and turns. You like a good solid challenge every once in a while.

[Rman Virgil]

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Am a jonesin'.

3 nodes within 1 map. This would be maintained when crossing over to another map ?

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[Goth Zagog-Thou]

Hehe ... patience! I've been working on it most of today and it's almost ready for the R-18 milestone release.

There are a few things that I'm stress testing and it'll be good to go.

Among the changes are:

- Enhanced the M2 map area. I like it a lot better now.
- M4ThreadB (where we save NEITHER Transport) is still broken. That will be the focus of R-19's milestone. Cheat if you have to (even though you shouldn't have to!) to complete that Hub.
- GREATLY enhanced the NEXUS defenders in M2's area. Likewise with the bases. Not in a more difficult way, mind you, but more appropriate for NEXUS.
- A little surprise is in store for the player while assaulting the AA Base.
- Story text is still being worked out for the NEXUS Attack event. Debug messages are still present but will be removed later.
- M12's map is unavailable for now.

[Goth Zagog-Thou]

As for whether they will be applicable to other maps, yes -- but that will have to wait until the 3.2 conversion. The new API will allow for a 'Governor Script" to oversee all the others, and it will keep tabs on what we've done previously.

That's going to be a big deal, for sure.

[Goth Zagog-Thou]

Little status update.

I've been tracking a problem with Research. Yes, *the* problem with research. How we aren't getting topics when we should be?

I found out why -- and it's the Rewards system I put in place for the player doing interesting things over the course of the Campaign.

I give these rewards by completing research for things like Auto-Repair, enhanced Weapons performance, etc. Problem is, it completely banjaxes normal modes of Research when we NEED to be doing it most -- aka when we finally get Construction Droids.

So what does this mean? It means that I don't have any meaningful rewards to give to the player for completing achievements, aside from giving Units or extra power (and I'm already doing that for Exploration Rewards).

The GOOD news is that in the current dev build (R18), I removed the rewards and Research is working perfectly again. So at least that is fixed.

So, I'll turn this one over to the community to decide. Shall I drop the rewards and achievement system, or shall I simply hand out extra power / units? The choice is yours.