by DrDragun » Tue Nov 17, 2009 8:16 am
Do we have a story or narrative for this campaign? I think it will be difficult to keep player interest with a bunch of random disconnected maps. I just see it as having really inconsistent quality and theme unless there is a central plot and antagonist. I know you plan to have all the maps beta tested, which should help a lot. I think this project has a great concept in tying a bunch of the mods together into a community expansion pack, like they did with Neverwinter Nights.
I don't have a huge amount of time, perhaps 2 hours per day, but I can contribute to the story writing and provide level and enemy concept ideas. Probably the biggest load will be level making and new enemy skins/spells. We can cherry pick the best from the modding community and ask their authors to be part of it. Also if you want some management help I can contribute.
A couple of sample ideas I was kicking around.
1) A level where you must kill a Lich boss who appears at the beginning of the map and chases you. If you kill him, he will just respawn and resume harassing you until you seek out his phylactery and destroy it, after which point he becomes killable. This forces you to basically do a speed run because you are never safe. The Lich can use slowing spells and a very-slow projectile frost ball which will nearly 1-shot you if it hits you, but is otherwise easily dodgeable.
2) A campaign where you are fighting some main epic antagonist (Archdemon, Dragon, etc) who has a coalition of armies under his command. The player has the option of doing the campaign the normal way, which is eliminating the Archdemon's allies one by one (there can be an Undead section, Evil Humans section, Fire Salamander section, whatever) and then attacking the main Demon's lair. The alternative "special difficulty" option is to attack the Demon's lair directly and face extra monster spawns from the other armies. This includes bosses (so you would be fighting the main Demon along with 1-2 bosses from the other sections if you didn't kill them first).
3) The entrance to the main Demon's lair could take the form of an endless battle line. At the beginning of the campaign, the good NPC's have a barricade and they are repelling nonstop waves on enemies from the Demon's armies. These include the Undead, Evil Human, Salamander, and Demon waves. As the player clears the dungeons of the Demon's allies and kills their leaders, the corresponding waves cease to spawn in the endless battle, until only the Demons are left. The player must then push through the waves and make his way to the entrance to the Demon's lair (this is kind of a DPS check). Players can attempt it the hard way and try to push through all the different races spawning if they want to try hard mode.
Just some ideas, and I have many more. I think a central plot would help tie the campaign together and keep player interest though.
