posted 07-21-20 04:02 PM CT (US)
This campaign is a new addition to the Gwyndlegard series. It is a sequel that can be played on its own, but which takes place in the same world as many of my earlier works. Hence, it will make the most sense if you have played those first. Considering this project will (optimistically speaking) still take another year to finish, you have plenty of time to play them through if you wish to!
Fifty years have passed since the events in "The Relics of Athalën", when Xaphira was defeated once and for all by Immanuel and his friends. Since then, the world has changed. Kalpireia, previously a barely explored island far to the east, is now a prosperous colony of Gwyndlegard, even as its frontiers remain untamed and largely uncharted. The great barrier still stands, an invisible dividing line that cuts the island in two. And on the mainland, Gwyndlegard, which once fought for its independence, now dominates its neighbours through its greatly centralized, militarized state; not even its old allies feel safe. But despite its might, it is a colossus on feet of clay.
As our story begins, King Fabian of Gwyndlegard, the son of Lord Mezenghi, dies without an heir, and the country is plunged into civil war. On one side is the de facto occupant of the throne: the ruthless King Winstan McAnthony. On the other is Fabian's designated heir: his cousin, the pious noblewoman Lady Meryda Mezenghi. Behind her also stands the young House Fardaugh, headed by Arthur, the first son of the great hero Immanuel.
Our hero, Samuel Fardaugh (Immanuel's grandson), is 21, and the last thing he desires is to succeed his father as Lord of Gwynhill. He longs for adventure and to get away from the trappings of noble life. One day, he gets more than he wishes for. His father sends him away to the island colony of Kalpireia, ostensibly to be tutored by his uncle and learn to accept his future resposibility to rule; but more so because his father knows that he himself might soon die, as he has sided with Lady Meryda in the war against King Winstan.
Amidst civil war, you now step into the shoes of Samuel as he explores this uncharted world, fights his way from an unruly youth to a major player in the raging war, and eventually all the way back to the mainland, to end the harsh rule of King Winstan.
I don't know how many times I've stated that
This campaign looks like it will be even bigger then "The Relics of Athalën". It uses the same mod, and on top of it adds several hundred new objects and graphics, giving it more new units and graphics than most official expansion packs. And with the Definitive Edition leading more and more people to abandon the CD/UserPatch version of the game altogether, the likelyhood that a decent chunk of people will actually see the result of my work keeps dwindling. But I am not giving up yet! I have sunk a lot of work into this campaign already and I am so far very happy with it. And if the CD/UP version of the game is to be put to rest, I want to help it go out with a bang.
I started working on this campaign back in early 2017, spending the next three years compiling and working on and off (to be frank, mostly off
) on the mod and writing the scripts for the seven (now eight!) scenarios of the campaign. And earlier this year, I started dedicating actual time to the scenarios themselves. As of this writing, the first two scenarios are nearly completed. If I keep working at the rate I have the past few weeks, the whole thing would be finished by the end of the year... but more realistically, this will see release sometime in 2021.I am now also working as a level designer for DE at Forgotten Empires, so to say that this will be my last AoE2 project is not entirely true... but it will likely be the last (major) hobby project I have for CD/UP.
• An 8 scenarios long campaign!
• Extensive modding!
• An epic continuation of the Gwyndlegard series. The main quest scripts alone for this campaign amount to 178 screenplay pages, comparable to a 3-hour feature film. For comparison, the scripts for "The Relics of Athalën" came to a total of 110 pages.
• The emphasis of the campaign lies on the storyline, humour and atmosphere, although I try to spruce it up with new ideas for gameplay as well!
• Varying gameplay styles: from adventure-focused RPS and Fixed Force, to pure B&D, grand battles with unique AI/trigger mechanics -- and big, one-on-one boss fights!
• Where "The Relics of Athalën" expanded the Gwyndlegard world in all directions, this campaign will focus in on a few key locations: the city of Silverstone, the uncharted lands of Kalpireia, as well as revisiting some places not seen since "Gwyndlegard"!
• Music from a wide range of composers, including Joe Hisaishi, Howard Shore, Russell Shaw and Tangerine Dream.
• An expansion to the mod from "The Relics of Athalën", which already comes with roughly 400 new units and graphics,
• 400+ new units made specifically for this new campaign: while many of these work "behind the scenes", so to speak, you will get new enemies to face, unique heroes, new eye candy units, and much more,
• Modded graphics from a host of AoKH modders; a full list of credits will be included in the campaign!
• Multiple all new indoor graphics, walkable walls, palaces and more!
Story: 100%
Map design: 100%
Triggers: 100% (total: ~500)
AI: 100%
Polishing: 90%
Story: 100%
Map design: 100%
Triggers: 100% (total ~1200)
AI: 100%
Polishing: 95%
Story: 100%
Map design: 100%
Triggers: 100% (total: ~900)
AI: 100%
Polishing: 95%
Story: 100%
Map design: 100%
Triggers: 100% (total: ~500)
AI: 100%
Polishing: 95%
Story: 100%
Map design: 95%
Triggers: 100% (total: ~600)
AI: 100%
Polishing: 90%
Story: 100%
Map design: 95%
Triggers: 85% (total: ~400)
AI: 50%
Polishing: 0%
Story: 100%
Map design: 100%
Triggers: 50% (estimated total: ~400)
AI: 0%
Polishing: 0%
Scenarios: 65%
Modding: 90%
Story: 100%
Music & sounds: 70%
Bitmaps: 0 / 8
Intro & outro texts: 0%
Lore book texts: 0%
Playtesting still lies a while in the future, as I hope to finish at least 2-3 scenarios before starting on this.
The obelisk and ruins beyond the Barrier are just placeholders to make the place look a bit cooler, they're not really canon.
A
The
OF | [/ \] |¯| [/ \] | ME
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The Relics of Athalën (5.0) | AoK Opus - 100,000+ downloads | StormWind Studios | "I consider the conversion of Basse to be one of the great triumphs of my modding crusade" - Matt LiVecchi
[This message has been edited by Lord Basse (edited 01-25-2024 @ 04:25 PM).]
