Hi guys. Chapter 1 is finished (held back until the whole project is finished). I was on a huge break (WoW, some other games, work etc.) but I've contibued working on a demo for Chapter 2. The gameplay is ready from my site, around 10-15 minutes worth. I need people to test it. I'm waiting for your feedback.
These are the first five minutes of a 10-20 minutes demo I've worked on for the second Chapter in my campaign. Unlike the GTA/WC3-like hero-gameplay of the first Chapter this one is actually a Point & Click Adventure!
This map is not yet available on Battle.net. Please respond to this video with your Battle.net EU-ID or add me (OutsiderXE.147) if you want to help me test it. EU only!
Features:
Point and Click Adventure gameplay.
10 to 20 minutes of playtime.
Four difficulty levels that vary the amount of ingame help.
Fixed camera system (can be switched to classic RTS camera).
After many months of hard work Chapter 2 is now ready for public testing. It now has eight times the amount of content than the demo had. It takes me 40 minutes of ingame-time to complete it, and I know the ins and out. My guess is that any other person would need 60-120 minutes.
Added tons of content, new abilities, many things to improve gameplay-fluency. If you are in any way interested in playing a Point & Click adventure within the SC2-universe, THIS is your chance!
I need testers to test:
everything (fun, riddles, controls, bugs, appeal)
EU-testers required. Add me on Bnet (OutsiderXE.147) or post your ID here. You can also find me on ICQ at 294455875.
I think it'd be cool but also think pure movie would make a bit more sense :/
Worth watching how it progresses though....
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Warning: Inquisitive mind at work.
Warning: Insanity is on the horizon.
"As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality."
Indeed. If not for the region lock, I would certainly want to play this. You made those high quality Wc3 campaigns after the books, and I enjoyed them quite a bit (used Masterofra in hiveworkshop btw) and hence am certain this will be equally high quality of a campaign. Now if I could only play it, even in this early version...
Guess what? Chapter 3 is ready for public testing. It's currently up on EU servers with the name "Shadow of the Xel'Naga III".It will stay there for about a week.
Features:
Chapter 3 of the canonical storyline, based on the Starcraft book "Shadow of the Xel'Naga"
Playable in singleplayer or two-player co-operative mode
Tug-of-War-style of map with two levelable heroes, (new) upgradeable skills and item-shops
Screenshots:
FAQ:
Q: What is this about?
A: It's my attempt to recreate the storyline of the book Shadow of the Xel'Naga. I combine my affinity for interesting gameplay mechanics with solid storyline which happens to be canon to the Starcraft universe. Check out my signature for my past work on Warcraft book-to-campaign-projects. Each map in the campaign has a unique gameplay idea, much more than Wings of Liberty or Heart of the Swarm, but not too much as not to alienate people.
Q: Chapter 3? Where's 1 and 2?
A: Chapter 1 and 2 had extensive testing a long time ago and won't be accessable until all 7 maps are finished. I'm not a fan of the episodical release format and one never knows when the next episode is actually going to be released. Holding back all maps will also help me polish them in the end.
Q: Why is this taking so long?
I'm studying and I don't have te time I used to. Sometimes I don't open the Editor for half a year or more. Everytime so much time has passed the editor feels all new and due to the complexity of the Editor (compared to the Warcraft 3 editor) it all takes much more time to get used to. I cannot give any ETA on chapters 4-7; they may take many years to make; but my passion for mapping has always been enough to finish any campaign I have ever started.
Q: What's so special about this map?
Chapter 3 is a lot like the Breakout mission from WoL (where you controlled only Tosh), but adds Tug-of-War-typical gameplay elements like levelable heroes and skills, and items. The gameplay is a lot more action-oriented than previous maps in the campaign. I also have a passion about making the experience as smooth, clean, bug-free and user-friendly as possible. My aim is to make it feel like it's a Blizzard-map and not just another custom map.
Q: So what do you need from me now?
Testing has been going very well so far. The map is a bit smaller than the previous maps in the campaign. I also have a lot more experience. But I have yet to test the 2-player-cooperative mode. If you have a friend who's interested then tell him to play with you. Bear in mind: Some two-player-features need testing (Loading Heroes as Cargo into the other player's ship). Two-player-mode may not work at all. I need to know. You can write your feedback in this thread or leave it directly on Battle.net as a map review.
All this looks pretty promising. Have you thought about using more custom icons? That way, it'll just look a bit pro.
Also, if you could get some people to volunteer as voice actors, it might improve the quality of the maps.
I'll make sure to test the new map soon, and give you some feedback.
I've actually started using custom assets only a couple of days ago. Xerana will probably get a new model and I will definitely add more custom stuff in the future. I believe the best thing is to complete all maps first, by then LotV and more user-made content will have been released.
Voice actors is a different story. I would love including them, but only if they are really good.
If you need you can use our sc1 remake ita models (for "our" i am saying that we are using it,but we don't own all models,all our models are free to use,also our mod),or also our mod if you could need it...
Thanks. I'll look into any kind of models once the time is right. Chapter 1-3 are still using WoL. . Chapter 4 will use HotS. Currently I'm using a trimmed version of the SCBW mod. I haven't created any mod myself because the maps are so different from one another.
I don't like posting screenshots from the editor, especially not work-in-progress-stuff, but with the recent surge of campaign presentations I thought "what the heck". So here are some random pics of Chapter 4. I'll not go into details about the gameplay (it's a Tower Defense map), but instead i want to discuss some screenshots I attached. Keep in mind, the terrain you see is work-in-progress, so you will certainly see some areas which can be improved (a lot). That being said, I am open to any sort of criticism (except those that hurt my feelings :P)
In contrast to some other fellow mappers I choose the design approach of making the gameplay first, and applying any terrain beautifications later. This makes for a less organic terrain, but allows me to iterate the gameplay to the fullest extend. And then, even the terrain is supposed to support the gameplay more than the art. For example, most of my maps are divided into sections. Each section should have its own style and visual appearance. I might use textures or doodads unique to that section. Dividing the terrain visually in sections helps the player maintain a clear view of the battlefield, even on larger maps.
Well, that's all for now. Didn't want this to become a tutorial or something like that.
Chapter 4 is completely playable now. All difficulty levels have been implemented and a lot of finetuning has been done along with about 50% of the terrain art. What remains now is to finish the cinematics, the terrain and tweak the gameplay as I go. But I am on a break until at least mid-July. Once I have picked up mapping again, the map should not take more than 2 weeks to be completed.
I've also tested some features for Chapter 5 (of 7). It's going to be a stealth map.
Chapter 4 is complete but I have no time for a beta test with other people.... Instead I have made a lot of progress with Chapter 5. It's a stealth map, very similar to the old Commandos/Desperados games where enemies have a cone of vision and players can sneak up behind them to knock them out or kill them.
Some features I have already implemented:
(More or less) realistic vision for enemy units, so you can sneak up behind them. You can see an enemy's cone of sight when you click on it or when it enters alert level 2 (yellow - enemy has spotted you but not yet identified you) or level 3 (red - enemy has spotted you and will pursue you if possible/not stunned etc).
Different types of enemies that vary in behaviour with different patrol routes, different shapes of cones of vision.
Switching between running and walking. Running makes noise which alerts nearby enemies.
Plenty of abilites that can stun enemies for some time, distract them or change their pattern.
The AI was hard to implement because the enemy should not only pursue you but is supposed to react to suspicious behaviour (e.g. go into alert mode when it sees a stunned enemy), but since then things have been pretty simple. I have been working on the level design and finetuning the abilities for the last 2 weeks. If things go as I hope this map could actually be finished in 2-3 months. Faster than any other map.
Random pic dump:
A stun ability is used on a marine. The Missile Turret just spotted him and will turn from yellow alert mode to red alert mode soon. Once it does that it will send an alarm to nearby units and the marine in the north will investigate.
The ghost just spotted the hero coming out of the bushes.The vision cone of the Missile Turret rotates around its center so the hero could sneak up to it and sabotage it.
Ghosts can see further but their angle is not as wide. Here the Missile turret was sabotaged so it can no longer spot the heroes.
(5 months later)
Hi guys. Chapter 1 is finished (held back until the whole project is finished). I was on a huge break (WoW, some other games, work etc.) but I've contibued working on a demo for Chapter 2. The gameplay is ready from my site, around 10-15 minutes worth. I need people to test it. I'm waiting for your feedback.
These are the first five minutes of a 10-20 minutes demo I've worked on for the second Chapter in my campaign. Unlike the GTA/WC3-like hero-gameplay of the first Chapter this one is actually a Point & Click Adventure!
This map is not yet available on Battle.net. Please respond to this video with your Battle.net EU-ID or add me (OutsiderXE.147) if you want to help me test it. EU only!
Features:
After many months of hard work Chapter 2 is now ready for public testing. It now has eight times the amount of content than the demo had. It takes me 40 minutes of ingame-time to complete it, and I know the ins and out. My guess is that any other person would need 60-120 minutes.
Added tons of content, new abilities, many things to improve gameplay-fluency. If you are in any way interested in playing a Point & Click adventure within the SC2-universe, THIS is your chance!
I need testers to test:
..... Dang Region Lock .....
@Ranakastrasz: Go
need more!
I think it'd be cool but also think pure movie would make a bit more sense :/
Worth watching how it progresses though....
Indeed. If not for the region lock, I would certainly want to play this. You made those high quality Wc3 campaigns after the books, and I enjoyed them quite a bit (used Masterofra in hiveworkshop btw) and hence am certain this will be equally high quality of a campaign. Now if I could only play it, even in this early version...
Where can i download the 1st and 2nd chapter?
@DEFILERRULEZ: Go
On battlenet I would imagine.
The maps wont be released until all 7 of them are finished. I need(ed) the thread and news for beta-testers.
Guess what? Chapter 3 is ready for public testing. It's currently up on EU servers with the name "Shadow of the Xel'Naga III".It will stay there for about a week.
Features:
Screenshots:
FAQ:
Q: What is this about?
A: It's my attempt to recreate the storyline of the book Shadow of the Xel'Naga. I combine my affinity for interesting gameplay mechanics with solid storyline which happens to be canon to the Starcraft universe. Check out my signature for my past work on Warcraft book-to-campaign-projects. Each map in the campaign has a unique gameplay idea, much more than Wings of Liberty or Heart of the Swarm, but not too much as not to alienate people.
Q: Chapter 3? Where's 1 and 2?
A: Chapter 1 and 2 had extensive testing a long time ago and won't be accessable until all 7 maps are finished. I'm not a fan of the episodical release format and one never knows when the next episode is actually going to be released. Holding back all maps will also help me polish them in the end.
Q: Why is this taking so long?
I'm studying and I don't have te time I used to. Sometimes I don't open the Editor for half a year or more. Everytime so much time has passed the editor feels all new and due to the complexity of the Editor (compared to the Warcraft 3 editor) it all takes much more time to get used to. I cannot give any ETA on chapters 4-7; they may take many years to make; but my passion for mapping has always been enough to finish any campaign I have ever started.
Q: What's so special about this map?
Chapter 3 is a lot like the Breakout mission from WoL (where you controlled only Tosh), but adds Tug-of-War-typical gameplay elements like levelable heroes and skills, and items. The gameplay is a lot more action-oriented than previous maps in the campaign. I also have a passion about making the experience as smooth, clean, bug-free and user-friendly as possible. My aim is to make it feel like it's a Blizzard-map and not just another custom map.
Q: So what do you need from me now?
Testing has been going very well so far. The map is a bit smaller than the previous maps in the campaign. I also have a lot more experience. But I have yet to test the 2-player-cooperative mode. If you have a friend who's interested then tell him to play with you. Bear in mind: Some two-player-features need testing (Loading Heroes as Cargo into the other player's ship). Two-player-mode may not work at all. I need to know. You can write your feedback in this thread or leave it directly on Battle.net as a map review.
All this looks pretty promising. Have you thought about using more custom icons? That way, it'll just look a bit pro. Also, if you could get some people to volunteer as voice actors, it might improve the quality of the maps.
I'll make sure to test the new map soon, and give you some feedback.
I've actually started using custom assets only a couple of days ago. Xerana will probably get a new model and I will definitely add more custom stuff in the future. I believe the best thing is to complete all maps first, by then LotV and more user-made content will have been released.
Voice actors is a different story. I would love including them, but only if they are really good.
If you need you can use our sc1 remake ita models (for "our" i am saying that we are using it,but we don't own all models,all our models are free to use,also our mod),or also our mod if you could need it...
Thanks. I'll look into any kind of models once the time is right. Chapter 1-3 are still using WoL. . Chapter 4 will use HotS. Currently I'm using a trimmed version of the SCBW mod. I haven't created any mod myself because the maps are so different from one another.
Yeah you can use our mod without problem :)
I have asked a fewdsigners and a couple gamers. But now it's time to ask the SC2-community. Which site-design do you prefer?
http://outsiderxe.campaigncreations.org/sotx03_alt.html
vs
http://outsiderxe.campaigncreations.org/sotx03.html
the darker site is better,less pages to open and more polite layout
Yep, it's still alive.
I don't like posting screenshots from the editor, especially not work-in-progress-stuff, but with the recent surge of campaign presentations I thought "what the heck". So here are some random pics of Chapter 4. I'll not go into details about the gameplay (it's a Tower Defense map), but instead i want to discuss some screenshots I attached. Keep in mind, the terrain you see is work-in-progress, so you will certainly see some areas which can be improved (a lot). That being said, I am open to any sort of criticism (except those that hurt my feelings :P)
In contrast to some other fellow mappers I choose the design approach of making the gameplay first, and applying any terrain beautifications later. This makes for a less organic terrain, but allows me to iterate the gameplay to the fullest extend. And then, even the terrain is supposed to support the gameplay more than the art. For example, most of my maps are divided into sections. Each section should have its own style and visual appearance. I might use textures or doodads unique to that section. Dividing the terrain visually in sections helps the player maintain a clear view of the battlefield, even on larger maps.
Well, that's all for now. Didn't want this to become a tutorial or something like that.
Chapter 4 is completely playable now. All difficulty levels have been implemented and a lot of finetuning has been done along with about 50% of the terrain art. What remains now is to finish the cinematics, the terrain and tweak the gameplay as I go. But I am on a break until at least mid-July. Once I have picked up mapping again, the map should not take more than 2 weeks to be completed.
I've also tested some features for Chapter 5 (of 7). It's going to be a stealth map.
album on imgur: http://imgur.com/a/g5MCn#0
Thanks for reading.
btw. how can I edit the title of this thread to "[Co-op Campaign]Shadow of the Xel'Naga"? Can any moderator do that?
btw2. I think I totally forgot to add the youtube video of Chapter 3 the last time I was here. Enjoy:
@OutsiderXE: Go
Oh my land! This looks beautiful! Can't wait to play the finished product!
(Also can't wait to see how you manage the ending... Hehe!)
Chapter 4 is complete but I have no time for a beta test with other people.... Instead I have made a lot of progress with Chapter 5. It's a stealth map, very similar to the old Commandos/Desperados games where enemies have a cone of vision and players can sneak up behind them to knock them out or kill them.
Some features I have already implemented:
(More or less) realistic vision for enemy units, so you can sneak up behind them. You can see an enemy's cone of sight when you click on it or when it enters alert level 2 (yellow - enemy has spotted you but not yet identified you) or level 3 (red - enemy has spotted you and will pursue you if possible/not stunned etc).
Different types of enemies that vary in behaviour with different patrol routes, different shapes of cones of vision.
Switching between running and walking. Running makes noise which alerts nearby enemies.
Plenty of abilites that can stun enemies for some time, distract them or change their pattern.
The AI was hard to implement because the enemy should not only pursue you but is supposed to react to suspicious behaviour (e.g. go into alert mode when it sees a stunned enemy), but since then things have been pretty simple. I have been working on the level design and finetuning the abilities for the last 2 weeks. If things go as I hope this map could actually be finished in 2-3 months. Faster than any other map.
Random pic dump:
A stun ability is used on a marine. The Missile Turret just spotted him and will turn from yellow alert mode to red alert mode soon. Once it does that it will send an alarm to nearby units and the marine in the north will investigate.
The ghost just spotted the hero coming out of the bushes.The vision cone of the Missile Turret rotates around its center so the hero could sneak up to it and sabotage it.
Ghosts can see further but their angle is not as wide. Here the Missile turret was sabotaged so it can no longer spot the heroes.