Congrats on the release! Played it for a while and finished the first level, pretty great so far. Loved the difficulty, especially :D
Though, I think I found a bug, when the first round of the Overlord hunting was over and the screen faded, I had two Hendersons at my disposal (but only one's kills counted), at least that helped deny the other guy's kills. :P
Congratz on the release. I'm super excited for this :O
The first six mission were really entertaining so I will be looking forward to see how the campaign develops.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
StarCraft II: Annihilation Campaign - A 24 mission single-player campaign featuring unique heroes, custom tracks, boss battles, a varied set of mission scenarios and three intersecting storylines.
Of course, as it is, I'm already hard at work adjusting things here and there. That doesn't mean I'm cleaning out bugs, though, as most of them should be taken care of now. I'm just changing some details here and there. I'll probably brush some terrain, maybe change some dialogue, lengthen some cut scenes, etc. However, all of these changes won't have any effect on the plot, so playing through the thing should work fine now (although I expect reports of more bugs).
Okay, I did play this map as a tester but that was almost a year ago. It still feels fresh and interesting even though I played an earlier version. The quality is very high.
Real fun mini-mission at the beginning. Interesting and unique and a bit silly, I really enjoyed that. Your cinematics are also very enjoyable and terrain is superb.
I might be mistaken but think you have done some polish on your dialogue now. They were really fluid and everything was quite smooth. I must admit that I at some occasions I have found your dialogues to be a bit contrived. Or that there were some lines that were a bit weird without me knowing what exactly made them so. That feeling is gone here. Good work!
Not that I am in any position to criticise anyones writing. Anyone who have played my maps would have found tons of bad dialogue and spelling errors. Your miles ahead of me there ;)
I like that the mission had different stages with different gameplay. It help make the story move forward and I get a stronger feeling that there are things happening then I would if the mission had only one stage with a intro and a outro cinematic. I must copy that routine to my maps :D
One thing. The difficulty. Phew, it's hard. I'm not really that good so I had serious trouble with this mission. Hard missions can be very a good thing but sometimes and for some people it's a turn off. I often find it enjoyable to be challenged with a game, but other times I just want to enjoy the story and the different gameplay twists. I usually play Blizzard's campaigns on normal just to get the story and feel of the game before I try hard or brutal modes.
This mission is hard for a first mission.
I think I know your stance on this, that you want this to be challenging, but I still want you to consider adding an easy difficulty option. It's not much work. You already have the normal gameplay. An easy version might only need some minimal tuning on attack waves, starting resources and other small things. And it will open up the campaign for a more casual audience.
Oh, during the hold out the SCV still had building options which just were distracting at that stage. You can disable those with triggers.
But once again, this is a very nice campaign. I can strongly recommend it.
On mission two I only needed one restart. This was a tad more easy and for me that is a good thing. I really enjoy you mission twists. They are original and fun and still simple enough to not be overwhelming
Mission 3, too hard for me again. Had to cheat a little in the beginning ;) Nevertheless, I looove the concepts in this mission. Cooltowers are a nice twist, as are the caves.
I've always been fond of idea of missions were you have three factions fighting each other but often the execution of such concepts devolve into a boring gimmick that doesn't add to the gameplay. You on the other hand made this three party fight highly relevant when the player has the possibility to direct the Zerg forces towards the Protoss.
Your story and dialogue writing continues to hold high quality in these two missions as well.
I am, as you know, both a bit lazy and a tad conservative when it comes to difficulties, so I suppose there is little to do but practise the game. :D
I'm really happy about having a three-way conflict in AS03, and with all the three races as well. I should do that more. However, I try to let the story lead the way for the gameplay, and it's not always easy to shoehorn things in.
Played through missions 2-4 yesterday, must say I really enjoyed them!
Loved the way the third mission was done, especially, since at first I thought it was going to be like that WoL mission where the Zerg play an negligible role as you fight the Protoss. Nice work on the cave blockade and coolant tower mechanics. :)
Although, I have a question regarding the story, the underground caves had manmade/artifical platforms constructed within them, where those previously built, or did Bayo's Platoon did so when they entered the cave?
My favorite so far would be mission 4, it felt that it had so much going on for it and so many stages, each with its own gameplay twist. Also, the last area was hilarious. :P
Also, I took a few notes: (Sorry if the first two sound kinda nitpicky)
- Goliaths get 2 levels of (attack) upgrades when you research one, at least in mission 2.
- Widow Mines in Mission 4 can attack while unburrowed, though I'm not sure if this is intentional.
- In the 4th mission, when the Marauder hero said he found a shortcut, the symbol on the minimap was outside of the boundaries on the bottom left (screenshot).
- From loading the 5th mission to save, it seems the intro cinematic was bugged. After the marines/marauder moved out a bit further, they stopped and nothing else happened.
The manmade platforms were pre-built. You were supposed to return there in a later mission and in a plot twist, it would turn out that Geraldus had taken up a secret installation below it. However, this was removed because of story space issues.
The bugs:
Odd about the goliath. Don't know why that happens. The other bugs are new to me (haven't appeared on my playthroughs). I think you just have to restart.
Glad you like mission 4. It's one of my favorites too.
Just completed Amber Sun a few days ago. Really well-made final boss. I absolutely loved it :D
You really seem to have increased the difficulty A LOT in some of the later mission though, especially mission 7 and 9. It took me ages to get through those, and it was just barely. I know your lazy and believe me, I know that feeling, but changing a few values in the attack waves and removing a few units depending on the difficulties would have been pretty useful.
Overall, the story really seems to have a nice flow to it, and I like all the plot twists. There's just one character I have trouble with, and that's Bayo. I may be missing something but what exactly is his role in the story, and where did Henderson know him from? It seems like he was just someone who randomly appeared out of nowhere, but then again I might be missing something. xD
The ending does seem pretty interesting to me though. I don't want to spoil it here though for the people who haven't played it yet, but it seems very unusual. Very open ending. I feel like the campaign is not over. Is that intentional or is there perhaps another sequel coming up, or am I just missing a key part of the story?
StarCraft II: Annihilation Campaign - A 24 mission single-player campaign featuring unique heroes, custom tracks, boss battles, a varied set of mission scenarios and three intersecting storylines.
Thanks for playing the campaign, thanks for liking it, and thanks for giving constructive feedback! :D
The difficulty is just as intended. I want it to increase throughout, and I can tell I succeeded. I might add difficulties some time later, but not right now. I suppose I'd rather be creating new stuff. I know not everybody likes that, but that's the way it is. For now.
Seeing as I discuss spoilers for the rest of the post, I'm going to put it in black. It's not entirely optimal, but I don't know any other way. Highlight to read.
Bayo: In Crimson Moon, Janus travelled to northern Amina, where he released the Zerg on the Amina forces in order to get Quarinius. He believes he leaves no survivors. Then, in Amber Sun, we meet Bayo, a new character whose allegiance (and purpose) is not fully disclosed yet. However, there are some hints: His player color is white, he has the murlocalypse decal, and he fights orange Zerg. Not the easiest hints to pick up on, but hints nonetheless.
In AS03, Bayo fights the Khaal-Ro and defeats them. They swear revenge. In AS05 we finally learn that Bayo belongs to Amina, and that he is part of their military (this is how Henderson knows him). In a very short moment at the end of the mission, we see the eyes of him and Janus meet, as they recognize each other. Again, very subtle, and hard to pick up on, but it doesn't really matter, as we find out all we need to know in AS09. There, the Khaal-Ro returns, and they try to take down Bayo once more. Although he seems to initally be succesful, Bayo nonetheless is cornered when more Protoss arrive.
As it turns out, Janus has joined hands with the Protoss, as he also wants to take down Bayo. Why? Because Bayo saw Janus release the Zerg, and therefore can out him to the other Amina soldiers. Janus, thinking it is the only way he can keep his alliance with the Amina soldiers, kill Bayo. In turn, he gets powers from the Khaal-Ro.
The ending: I did intend it to set up the last part of the trilogy: Aureolin Eclipse. I have a set-up for the story, although a loooot of details are still missing, including the ending. So no, you didn't miss anything. Exactly where the story picks up after this is not something I will share, though you are free to guess.
I don't think the Kaal-Ro will be too happy to find out what happened to Janus in the ending. I do however question why the Kaal-Ro were so deadest on killing Bayo in the first place (Mission 3).
By the way, can you include a mission or two where you play/are allied with a different race than the terrans in your next campaign?
I see. It all makes much more sense now, and I have a better understanding of how the story connects now, thanks for the explanation, and I thought there was something I was missing, and it was true. Nice job with the small hints. You really thought things out well there.
Good luck on the the third part of the trilogy too. I know you have a long way ahead of you. I really admire all the work you do for this project. :)
StarCraft II: Annihilation Campaign - A 24 mission single-player campaign featuring unique heroes, custom tracks, boss battles, a varied set of mission scenarios and three intersecting storylines.
(I updated my campaign tutorial thread. Check it out!)
Glad to get all this feedback, especially on the story, which I am proud of, especially because it felt like a knot for such a long time, before I finally figured out how to bring it all together. The Bayo story is one I am particularly proud of. For such a long time, you don't even know who he is. He's just an enigma. But then things slowly start to reveal themselves, and you start to realize what is going on, even if you can't necessarily pinpoint where it's all heading to. The ending scene of AS09 is probably my favorite in both campaigns. The look of it, its music, the dialogue, the way it ties so many plot threads together; I just love it.
For those interested in some of the deeper stuff in the story (hints, symbolism, callbacks, etc), I've written a little about it below). I've blacked it for spoilers, so don't read until you've finished Amber Sun.
One of the primary themes in CM was greed. The obvious example was Ghost Caine, who killed thousands just to earn money. However, the Roverville miners, who are less fortunate in their financial affairs, could also said to have been deceived by it. Blinded by greed, they travelled to the "rectal end of the universe" because they thought it would make them rich, which it obviously didn't. I intended the whole ordeal as an exaggerated caricature of the USA, as Americans often sees themselves not as "have-nots", but "soon-to-haves". And before anyone asks: no, I am not a socialist. I just find that sort of mindset interesting.
Tyrone's death scene: This was one of the first things I wrote. Originally, the miners weren't even in the campaign, but I had the idea of having two characters who bickered so much until one of them finally would have had enough, abandoning the other at the worst possible time. Those two characters turned out to be Henderson and Tyrone. All through the campaign, Tyrone berates and belittles Henderson, until Henderson finally has had enough in CM05, where he chooses to relieve himself instead of guarding Tyrone, which turns out to be a terrible mistake, seeing as Quarinius is coming to kill Tyrone. I still love that scene. It's where Henderson's journey to become a great military leader begins.
Janus' memory wipe: In CM07, we learn that Janus had his memories removed, and that he actually used to work for his own enemy, Ghost Caine. Quarinius told Janus that the lab where it happened was "the birthplace of the new you", implying that on a symbolic level, Janus was reborn as a new person. Later, we learn that Quarinius is actually Janus' brother, and that Corelia used the memory wipe to get revenge on Janus. In a way, one could say that Janus has to suffer in this life for a sin he committed in a previous life, which can be read as a metaphor for karma. After all, what was the name of the person Corelia killed before revealing her secret? Why, Colonel Buddha, of course.
I intended the importance of memories to be the central theme of CM. Corelia's revenge plan is meant to illustrate just how meaningless a brotherly bond is without memories to tie it together. Any bond between two people is built upon memories. Without memories, we can never get to know someone. By removing them, Janus severs every tie he has to his past (it is subtly implied that he does this because of a traumatized childhood). He even adopts Caine's mantra, "memories are the scars of the mind". This is an idea he tries to shove on Henderson, who ultimately rejects it, because he realizes that after his homeworld has been turned to ruins, he can still use his memories of how it used to be to comfort himself. So Janus is punished because he rejects the importance of memories, while Henderson is rewarded for embracing them.
Sidenote: I got the idea for the memory wipe from Ghost in the Shell, but I also got a lot of inspiration from Christopher Nolan's great Memento. Check it out!
Janus wasn't the only one who lost his memories. In fact, it is implied that Caine had many "Perfect Soldiers". His intention with them was to have them "start anew" by removing the sum of all they've learned through their lives (fully grown men obviously been shaped by a lot in their upbringing), so he could mould them in any way he'd chose. However, he disregarded an important factor: genes. Human beings are coded already at birth, and although a lot can happen after that, many of the pieces that is used to form us have already been placed by the time we take our first breath. Caine learned this the hard way when he failed to control his soldiers. Quarinius, for instance, stood out as someone who sought not only his indepedence, but also power, a trait that in his case was expressed through genes, not memes. Consider this my sci-fi entry in the nature vs. nurture debate.
Janus' change: In CM, Janus is portrayed as a very sympathetic figure. Yes, he kills, and he goes too far in his search for Quarinius, but he is also punished in a way that seems (at least to me) to be somewhat unfair, as he no idea of what he is actually doing. Yet, in Amber Sun, his true persona begins to reveal himself, and it is not a pretty thing to witness. We think that after having been punished so hard, he might actually become moral. Instead, at the end of AS, we see him murder Bayo to cover up his own sins (Bayo is like a ghost from the past that Janus refuses to atone for). Bayo's murder is in many ways intended to echo the death of Quarinius, only now, Janus is the bad guy. I used many small details to bind those two events together. For instance, Bayo's brother Miguel is a firebat, and therefore looks a lot like col. Buddha, whom Corelia killed before revealing herself to Janus (remember that Miguel is also brutally killed). Secondly, as a reward for helping the Khaal-Ro, Janus is even giving a new suit, one that looks more like Quarinius' ghost suit than Janus' spectre suit (which further signifies his change). Lastly, there is the fact that Janus killed Quarinius not knowing who he actually is, and now kills Bayo knowing exactly who he is. Quarinius' relation to Janus was hidden from Janus, because if he knew about it, he probably wouldn't have killed Quarinius. However, Bayo's relation to Janus was not only something Janus was fully aware of, but also the actual reason why Janus killed him. Whereas Quarinius was a terrorist, Bayo was an innocent; a person unfortunate enough to survive Janus' attack on Quarinius' HQ.
CM and AS connect in many small ways, as well. One example is a quote captain Ryan utters in CM01, "Let's show them some Roverville courtesy", which is echoed by Henderson in AS05, although he says "Let's show them some Amina courtesy". Ryan, of course, turned out to have a brother in AS. Both of them were more talented soldiers than talkers (Ryan says he "let his gun speak for him" while his brother struggles with his grammar). Another callback can be seen in AS04, where Tyrone turns up again, now as a priest in a hallucination. Lastly, there is an additional reference in AS04: the character of Mama Coyote, whose blond hair was chosen to echo Corelia (yes, I actually changed the frickin' portrait just for that little detail).
@EivindL: Go
This looks amazing man!
AS10 is sent to the testers. I hope to have the first draft of the campaign released for the public sometime this week.
"Phew", I say. That was exhausting.
The campaign is now released.
Download here.
Also, check out the mission launcher, which I've previewed below.
This is great! Perhaps this derseve an releaseparty thread ;)
Congrats on the release! Played it for a while and finished the first level, pretty great so far. Loved the difficulty, especially :D
Though, I think I found a bug, when the first round of the Overlord hunting was over and the screen faded, I had two Hendersons at my disposal (but only one's kills counted), at least that helped deny the other guy's kills. :P
That is indeed a bug. Fixed it now. Also added a new and better loading screen for the mission launcher, as well as changing the music.
Grats on getting everything done. I know how good that feels. :P
I'll be adding it to my playthrough list.
Congratz on the release. I'm super excited for this :O The first six mission were really entertaining so I will be looking forward to see how the campaign develops.
StarCraft II: Annihilation Campaign - A 24 mission single-player campaign featuring unique heroes, custom tracks, boss battles, a varied set of mission scenarios and three intersecting storylines.
Starcraft II: A War Story Campaign - A multi-act campaign with custom factions. Follow my discord for updates: https://discord.gg/Ztu44gZ
If you want to see a list of other awesome campaigns, go to: Custom Campaign Initiative
Thanks, guys.
Of course, as it is, I'm already hard at work adjusting things here and there. That doesn't mean I'm cleaning out bugs, though, as most of them should be taken care of now. I'm just changing some details here and there. I'll probably brush some terrain, maybe change some dialogue, lengthen some cut scenes, etc. However, all of these changes won't have any effect on the plot, so playing through the thing should work fine now (although I expect reports of more bugs).
First impressions (not really) on mission 1.
Okay, I did play this map as a tester but that was almost a year ago. It still feels fresh and interesting even though I played an earlier version. The quality is very high.
Real fun mini-mission at the beginning. Interesting and unique and a bit silly, I really enjoyed that. Your cinematics are also very enjoyable and terrain is superb.
I might be mistaken but think you have done some polish on your dialogue now. They were really fluid and everything was quite smooth. I must admit that I at some occasions I have found your dialogues to be a bit contrived. Or that there were some lines that were a bit weird without me knowing what exactly made them so. That feeling is gone here. Good work!
Not that I am in any position to criticise anyones writing. Anyone who have played my maps would have found tons of bad dialogue and spelling errors. Your miles ahead of me there ;)
I like that the mission had different stages with different gameplay. It help make the story move forward and I get a stronger feeling that there are things happening then I would if the mission had only one stage with a intro and a outro cinematic. I must copy that routine to my maps :D
One thing. The difficulty. Phew, it's hard. I'm not really that good so I had serious trouble with this mission. Hard missions can be very a good thing but sometimes and for some people it's a turn off. I often find it enjoyable to be challenged with a game, but other times I just want to enjoy the story and the different gameplay twists. I usually play Blizzard's campaigns on normal just to get the story and feel of the game before I try hard or brutal modes.
This mission is hard for a first mission.
I think I know your stance on this, that you want this to be challenging, but I still want you to consider adding an easy difficulty option. It's not much work. You already have the normal gameplay. An easy version might only need some minimal tuning on attack waves, starting resources and other small things. And it will open up the campaign for a more casual audience.
Oh, during the hold out the SCV still had building options which just were distracting at that stage. You can disable those with triggers.
But once again, this is a very nice campaign. I can strongly recommend it.
Hey. Played mission 2 and 3.
On mission two I only needed one restart. This was a tad more easy and for me that is a good thing. I really enjoy you mission twists. They are original and fun and still simple enough to not be overwhelming
Mission 3, too hard for me again. Had to cheat a little in the beginning ;) Nevertheless, I looove the concepts in this mission. Cooltowers are a nice twist, as are the caves.
I've always been fond of idea of missions were you have three factions fighting each other but often the execution of such concepts devolve into a boring gimmick that doesn't add to the gameplay. You on the other hand made this three party fight highly relevant when the player has the possibility to direct the Zerg forces towards the Protoss.
Your story and dialogue writing continues to hold high quality in these two missions as well.
Glad you like it.
I am, as you know, both a bit lazy and a tad conservative when it comes to difficulties, so I suppose there is little to do but practise the game. :D
I'm really happy about having a three-way conflict in AS03, and with all the three races as well. I should do that more. However, I try to let the story lead the way for the gameplay, and it's not always easy to shoehorn things in.
Played through missions 2-4 yesterday, must say I really enjoyed them!
Loved the way the third mission was done, especially, since at first I thought it was going to be like that WoL mission where the Zerg play an negligible role as you fight the Protoss. Nice work on the cave blockade and coolant tower mechanics. :)
Although, I have a question regarding the story, the underground caves had manmade/artifical platforms constructed within them, where those previously built, or did Bayo's Platoon did so when they entered the cave?
My favorite so far would be mission 4, it felt that it had so much going on for it and so many stages, each with its own gameplay twist. Also, the last area was hilarious. :P
Also, I took a few notes: (Sorry if the first two sound kinda nitpicky)
- Goliaths get 2 levels of (attack) upgrades when you research one, at least in mission 2.
- Widow Mines in Mission 4 can attack while unburrowed, though I'm not sure if this is intentional.
- In the 4th mission, when the Marauder hero said he found a shortcut, the symbol on the minimap was outside of the boundaries on the bottom left (screenshot).
- From loading the 5th mission to save, it seems the intro cinematic was bugged. After the marines/marauder moved out a bit further, they stopped and nothing else happened.
The manmade platforms were pre-built. You were supposed to return there in a later mission and in a plot twist, it would turn out that Geraldus had taken up a secret installation below it. However, this was removed because of story space issues.
The bugs: Odd about the goliath. Don't know why that happens. The other bugs are new to me (haven't appeared on my playthroughs). I think you just have to restart.
Glad you like mission 4. It's one of my favorites too.
Just completed Amber Sun a few days ago. Really well-made final boss. I absolutely loved it :D
You really seem to have increased the difficulty A LOT in some of the later mission though, especially mission 7 and 9. It took me ages to get through those, and it was just barely. I know your lazy and believe me, I know that feeling, but changing a few values in the attack waves and removing a few units depending on the difficulties would have been pretty useful.
Overall, the story really seems to have a nice flow to it, and I like all the plot twists. There's just one character I have trouble with, and that's Bayo. I may be missing something but what exactly is his role in the story, and where did Henderson know him from? It seems like he was just someone who randomly appeared out of nowhere, but then again I might be missing something. xD
The ending does seem pretty interesting to me though. I don't want to spoil it here though for the people who haven't played it yet, but it seems very unusual. Very open ending. I feel like the campaign is not over. Is that intentional or is there perhaps another sequel coming up, or am I just missing a key part of the story?
StarCraft II: Annihilation Campaign - A 24 mission single-player campaign featuring unique heroes, custom tracks, boss battles, a varied set of mission scenarios and three intersecting storylines.
Starcraft II: A War Story Campaign - A multi-act campaign with custom factions. Follow my discord for updates: https://discord.gg/Ztu44gZ
If you want to see a list of other awesome campaigns, go to: Custom Campaign Initiative
@DudkiSC2: Go
Thanks for playing the campaign, thanks for liking it, and thanks for giving constructive feedback! :D
The difficulty is just as intended. I want it to increase throughout, and I can tell I succeeded. I might add difficulties some time later, but not right now. I suppose I'd rather be creating new stuff. I know not everybody likes that, but that's the way it is. For now.
Seeing as I discuss spoilers for the rest of the post, I'm going to put it in black. It's not entirely optimal, but I don't know any other way. Highlight to read.
Bayo: In Crimson Moon, Janus travelled to northern Amina, where he released the Zerg on the Amina forces in order to get Quarinius. He believes he leaves no survivors. Then, in Amber Sun, we meet Bayo, a new character whose allegiance (and purpose) is not fully disclosed yet. However, there are some hints: His player color is white, he has the murlocalypse decal, and he fights orange Zerg. Not the easiest hints to pick up on, but hints nonetheless.
In AS03, Bayo fights the Khaal-Ro and defeats them. They swear revenge. In AS05 we finally learn that Bayo belongs to Amina, and that he is part of their military (this is how Henderson knows him). In a very short moment at the end of the mission, we see the eyes of him and Janus meet, as they recognize each other. Again, very subtle, and hard to pick up on, but it doesn't really matter, as we find out all we need to know in AS09. There, the Khaal-Ro returns, and they try to take down Bayo once more. Although he seems to initally be succesful, Bayo nonetheless is cornered when more Protoss arrive.
As it turns out, Janus has joined hands with the Protoss, as he also wants to take down Bayo. Why? Because Bayo saw Janus release the Zerg, and therefore can out him to the other Amina soldiers. Janus, thinking it is the only way he can keep his alliance with the Amina soldiers, kill Bayo. In turn, he gets powers from the Khaal-Ro.
The ending: I did intend it to set up the last part of the trilogy: Aureolin Eclipse. I have a set-up for the story, although a loooot of details are still missing, including the ending. So no, you didn't miss anything. Exactly where the story picks up after this is not something I will share, though you are free to guess.
I don't think the Kaal-Ro will be too happy to find out what happened to Janus in the ending. I do however question why the Kaal-Ro were so deadest on killing Bayo in the first place (Mission 3).
By the way, can you include a mission or two where you play/are allied with a different race than the terrans in your next campaign?
Maybe, maybe not. Guess you'll have to find out.
They felt threatened by him, so they instigated the Zerg against him. He turned it against them, and so they swore revenge.
Most definitely. I'm kinda tired of Terran myself. Expect some Protoss missions!
I see. It all makes much more sense now, and I have a better understanding of how the story connects now, thanks for the explanation, and I thought there was something I was missing, and it was true. Nice job with the small hints. You really thought things out well there.
Good luck on the the third part of the trilogy too. I know you have a long way ahead of you. I really admire all the work you do for this project. :)
StarCraft II: Annihilation Campaign - A 24 mission single-player campaign featuring unique heroes, custom tracks, boss battles, a varied set of mission scenarios and three intersecting storylines.
Starcraft II: A War Story Campaign - A multi-act campaign with custom factions. Follow my discord for updates: https://discord.gg/Ztu44gZ
If you want to see a list of other awesome campaigns, go to: Custom Campaign Initiative
(I updated my campaign tutorial thread. Check it out!)
Glad to get all this feedback, especially on the story, which I am proud of, especially because it felt like a knot for such a long time, before I finally figured out how to bring it all together. The Bayo story is one I am particularly proud of. For such a long time, you don't even know who he is. He's just an enigma. But then things slowly start to reveal themselves, and you start to realize what is going on, even if you can't necessarily pinpoint where it's all heading to. The ending scene of AS09 is probably my favorite in both campaigns. The look of it, its music, the dialogue, the way it ties so many plot threads together; I just love it.
For those interested in some of the deeper stuff in the story (hints, symbolism, callbacks, etc), I've written a little about it below). I've blacked it for spoilers, so don't read until you've finished Amber Sun.
One of the primary themes in CM was greed. The obvious example was Ghost Caine, who killed thousands just to earn money. However, the Roverville miners, who are less fortunate in their financial affairs, could also said to have been deceived by it. Blinded by greed, they travelled to the "rectal end of the universe" because they thought it would make them rich, which it obviously didn't. I intended the whole ordeal as an exaggerated caricature of the USA, as Americans often sees themselves not as "have-nots", but "soon-to-haves". And before anyone asks: no, I am not a socialist. I just find that sort of mindset interesting.
Tyrone's death scene: This was one of the first things I wrote. Originally, the miners weren't even in the campaign, but I had the idea of having two characters who bickered so much until one of them finally would have had enough, abandoning the other at the worst possible time. Those two characters turned out to be Henderson and Tyrone. All through the campaign, Tyrone berates and belittles Henderson, until Henderson finally has had enough in CM05, where he chooses to relieve himself instead of guarding Tyrone, which turns out to be a terrible mistake, seeing as Quarinius is coming to kill Tyrone. I still love that scene. It's where Henderson's journey to become a great military leader begins.
Janus' memory wipe: In CM07, we learn that Janus had his memories removed, and that he actually used to work for his own enemy, Ghost Caine. Quarinius told Janus that the lab where it happened was "the birthplace of the new you", implying that on a symbolic level, Janus was reborn as a new person. Later, we learn that Quarinius is actually Janus' brother, and that Corelia used the memory wipe to get revenge on Janus. In a way, one could say that Janus has to suffer in this life for a sin he committed in a previous life, which can be read as a metaphor for karma. After all, what was the name of the person Corelia killed before revealing her secret? Why, Colonel Buddha, of course.
I intended the importance of memories to be the central theme of CM. Corelia's revenge plan is meant to illustrate just how meaningless a brotherly bond is without memories to tie it together. Any bond between two people is built upon memories. Without memories, we can never get to know someone. By removing them, Janus severs every tie he has to his past (it is subtly implied that he does this because of a traumatized childhood). He even adopts Caine's mantra, "memories are the scars of the mind". This is an idea he tries to shove on Henderson, who ultimately rejects it, because he realizes that after his homeworld has been turned to ruins, he can still use his memories of how it used to be to comfort himself. So Janus is punished because he rejects the importance of memories, while Henderson is rewarded for embracing them.
Sidenote: I got the idea for the memory wipe from Ghost in the Shell, but I also got a lot of inspiration from Christopher Nolan's great Memento. Check it out!
Janus wasn't the only one who lost his memories. In fact, it is implied that Caine had many "Perfect Soldiers". His intention with them was to have them "start anew" by removing the sum of all they've learned through their lives (fully grown men obviously been shaped by a lot in their upbringing), so he could mould them in any way he'd chose. However, he disregarded an important factor: genes. Human beings are coded already at birth, and although a lot can happen after that, many of the pieces that is used to form us have already been placed by the time we take our first breath. Caine learned this the hard way when he failed to control his soldiers. Quarinius, for instance, stood out as someone who sought not only his indepedence, but also power, a trait that in his case was expressed through genes, not memes. Consider this my sci-fi entry in the nature vs. nurture debate.
Janus' change: In CM, Janus is portrayed as a very sympathetic figure. Yes, he kills, and he goes too far in his search for Quarinius, but he is also punished in a way that seems (at least to me) to be somewhat unfair, as he no idea of what he is actually doing. Yet, in Amber Sun, his true persona begins to reveal himself, and it is not a pretty thing to witness. We think that after having been punished so hard, he might actually become moral. Instead, at the end of AS, we see him murder Bayo to cover up his own sins (Bayo is like a ghost from the past that Janus refuses to atone for). Bayo's murder is in many ways intended to echo the death of Quarinius, only now, Janus is the bad guy. I used many small details to bind those two events together. For instance, Bayo's brother Miguel is a firebat, and therefore looks a lot like col. Buddha, whom Corelia killed before revealing herself to Janus (remember that Miguel is also brutally killed). Secondly, as a reward for helping the Khaal-Ro, Janus is even giving a new suit, one that looks more like Quarinius' ghost suit than Janus' spectre suit (which further signifies his change). Lastly, there is the fact that Janus killed Quarinius not knowing who he actually is, and now kills Bayo knowing exactly who he is. Quarinius' relation to Janus was hidden from Janus, because if he knew about it, he probably wouldn't have killed Quarinius. However, Bayo's relation to Janus was not only something Janus was fully aware of, but also the actual reason why Janus killed him. Whereas Quarinius was a terrorist, Bayo was an innocent; a person unfortunate enough to survive Janus' attack on Quarinius' HQ.
CM and AS connect in many small ways, as well. One example is a quote captain Ryan utters in CM01, "Let's show them some Roverville courtesy", which is echoed by Henderson in AS05, although he says "Let's show them some Amina courtesy". Ryan, of course, turned out to have a brother in AS. Both of them were more talented soldiers than talkers (Ryan says he "let his gun speak for him" while his brother struggles with his grammar). Another callback can be seen in AS04, where Tyrone turns up again, now as a priest in a hallucination. Lastly, there is an additional reference in AS04: the character of Mama Coyote, whose blond hair was chosen to echo Corelia (yes, I actually changed the frickin' portrait just for that little detail).