H4 The Reckoning campaigns

[Karmakeld]

the town with 4 Towns (the pic you Refer to) is from the final map of the Winds of War campaign. You should be able to find it somewhere online (atleast I did some time ago)..

[Taro]

Sorry for long reply, but let's say I was busy But for know...

I think your map from the screen is pretty empty and you should do something with it. Green mountains are very unnatural, there is no tuft, flowers, trees. And as I sad, you can use my brushes which you can download from here:

https://www.sendspace.com/file/0rzot5

And there are some of my random creations:

https://www.sendspace.com/file/bg5dau

So for you I recommend "green mountains" and three variations of "green forest". And if you want some help I can make some landscape for you.

[iLiVeInAbOx05]

Sorry for long reply, but let's say I was busy But for know...

I think your map from the screen is pretty empty and you should do something with it. Green mountains are very unnatural, there is no tuft, flowers, trees. And as I sad, you can use my brushes which you can download from here:

https://www.sendspace.com/file/0rzot5

And there are some of my random creations:

https://www.sendspace.com/file/bg5dau

So for you I recommend "green mountains" and three variations of "green forest". And if you want some help I can make some landscape for you.

Taro, thank you for the feedback

I agree that the map is a bit empty, but I've been having trouble figuring out what kind of stuff I could fill it up with. I don't want a lot of "treasure" objects just laying around, but more landscape type stuff that looks like it actually belongs there.

As far as the green mountains, this particular place is supposed to look a little unnatural so they will likely stay. Everything there is supposed to be extremely vibrant and alive, thus all the greenery

I'll take a look at some of your stuff when I get home and have the chance!

So your suggestions: Add more flowers and more (and different) types of trees?

[Taro]

More flowers - yes. More types of trees - no. Just look at the original campaigns - trees there were not so complicated and still they looked very good.

I tried to make brushes which can do similar effect. When you place very very very types of trees effect is chaotic and unnatural. And very unpleasant for watching.

[iLiVeInAbOx05]

More flowers - yes. More types of trees - no. Just look at the original campaigns - trees there were not so complicated and still they looked very good.

I tried to make brushes which can do similar effect. When you place very very very types of trees effect is chaotic and unnatural. And very unpleasant for watching.

Ah same type of tree for an area. Yeah, I actually have been doing that in the second map and only plan to use switch types if the ground type changes. Good suggestion ~_~

I'll try looking through some of the other landscaping objects again, like flowers and see what I can come up with.

[Karmakeld]

well there are lots of objects. rock, vegetation, trees, flowers, animals etc..
@taro, do you offer help to others, regarding landscaping?

[Taro]

Yes, I can help you. In general I have no good idea for story to make something on my own. But on the other hand I like "landscaping". So I believe we can cooperate.

[Karmakeld]

it is just mere landscaping I'm interesting in. I got story and ideas already. It's for my campaign viewtopic.php?t=13918&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=20. I still need to do 6 more maps, so some help landscaping could help me save some time..
Well if you're up for it, let me know. I got basic enviroment ideas for most of the remaining maps.

[Taro]

Yes, I'm up for it. Send me a private message and tell me about your ideas.

[Duzeom_]

Maybe I could help in something?

[Karmakeld]

Hey Duzeom, sure, but I figured you were busy with your own campaign.. Do you have time to help me out?
taro, will do..

[Duzeom_]

Oh I didn't read carefully the posts - I thought that we are all doing campaign about reckoning. That would be HUUUUUGE!

My vision of reckoning was mentioned in Megom Chronicles campaign - but it was only mentioned.

I think making campaign in cooperation is a good idea. I proposed it to Taro some time ago but he refused to such idea.

[Karmakeld]

No, the boxliving guy is :-)
Are you working on a Reckoning campaign aswell?
Well I think there's quite a step from landscaping to actual map/campaign making (with story and scripts)..

I posted it in another tread, but to get Picture of entire map, use code nwcexcalibur. It even says what it does under cheatcode section. (the old saying, look and you shall find)

[Duzeom_]

No I don't make a campaign about reckoning but I think cooperation would be a nice thing ;p. I know that campaign is huge work - but does we have to have a complex plot, a lot of text and scripts? I don't think so. We could divide the work - one map for every mapmaker and we would have 4 map campaign! Isn't it great?!

[Karmakeld]

yeah, I think you're right about that. Unfortunately, I can't offer my help as my own campaign is still a looong way from completion. but just like the Masters of Sigh. are a team, believe you're right. A team working on e.g. 1 map pr. person or one doing landscaping while another does text/scripting etc. would speed up the process. Ofcourse you'd need one stringholder/projectleader.
I think it depends on the visions of the mapmaker. Mine is very storybased and I wanted to explore new ways of scripting, but I don't think it is always neccesary. But I believe the hard part is finding people who wants to contribute to such a project. I see that new maps are still being added, but still people would have to commit to the project. And with the lack of testers I fear it might be hard finding mapmakers aswell..

[iLiVeInAbOx05]

And I thought I was the only one interested in doing campaigns for The Reckoning

Unfortunately though, I do want it to be more than just a few maps I've written the basic story for about 5-7 maps (Some maps may be combined using the underground layer).

I've got lots of specific dialogue, and I'm currently working on the second map (story for the first "prologue" map is done, I just need to revisit landscaping), which I think is coming along nicely (first area story / scripting is completed. Just need to fill in some of the landscape)

I did want to ask some other map makers if anyone had experimented / implemented random chance battles? I've just finished doing that for the second area in this map, and I think it's pretty cool Adds to the RPG feel in my opinion and reminds me of some old school Final Fantasy ! I can also tweak the likelihood of a battle through the difficulty level once I script that in at the start.

I don't want to be rude and say no to help on this project, but I have a pretty specific vision on the story and progression of the maps, so I'm probably going to work on the actual story and map making alone and continue ask for feedback on the "look and feel."

Also, if I don't do everything here by myself, then I won't learn how to do it!

When I do get to the point where I'm asking for testers, I still definitely also want feedback on certain story elements, such as: Did I contradict myself in the storytelling? Is it consistent with the lore in the Heroes of Might and Magic and Might and Magic universes? Did I misspell hero / town names? Things like that.

Having said all that, please don't take this as me asking everyone else to not make any campaigns for The Reckoning. I'd love to see others' take on this event in a campaign! Since I already know the story and how the map plays out, it won't be as fun for me when I play through the campaign

Also, Karmakeld, I do usually have some extra time on the weekends so if you still need map testers, send me a private message and I'll help you out with whatever you need tested.

[iLiVeInAbOx05]

More on my vision for The Reckoning campaigns: I've also added an overarching story to The Reckoning, which opens up some nice possibilities for future maps / stories !

[Karmakeld]

could you be more specific about the meaning of random chance battle?
Yeah, it might be hard to tune people in on ones visions :-)

[iLiVeInAbOx05]

could you be more specific about the meaning of random chance battle?
Yeah, it might be hard to tune people in on ones visions :-)

Sure. What I mean by random chance battles: In my second map "New Beginnings," There will be certain areas on the map, which I will try to alert the player in some way, where you basically have a chance to enter into combat. The way I have it setup right now is this: the more you move in the area, the more likely you will have to fight.

I'm also thinking now of having some of the areas with a fixed probability of a combat, rather than the probability increasing with each step and then resetting after the player has fought a battle. This way will be more for "level grinding areas," whereas the previous way leans more towards the story canon, ie. while traveling a certain route the heroes encountered several ambushes.

Both ways will be difficulty tunable. The higher the difficulty, the higher the chance to fight, and the more the chance increments each time you don't fight

[iLiVeInAbOx05]

Oh, and also, I'm currently having trouble deleting a town when it is captured by the player, and I can't figure out what the problem is!

I put the dynamite on top of the town, give it a name, and then on the town's "captured" event, I use the delete adventure objects for the dynamite I placed, but the town doesn't disappear.

I know the script is being called, because I placed another dynamite with the same name on a nearby tree, and it goes away when I capture the town >.<

Is there a specific place you put the dynamite on a town that you want to be removed?