Xibalpa-Prime MULTIPLAYER campaign for Dark-Crusade

[Jaguar-Lord]

OBSIDIAN PALACE is finished and ready to play.

The original thread is going more and more confusing and was more a technical thread.
This is the reason why i decided to open a new thread, focusing only on the finished work.

in a short future this thread will become the main thread of XIBALPA-Prime Campaign, keep your bolters on overwatch for any moves on this board!!

due to some warp storm the DOWfiles team seems unreachable for the present eon.....




13.05.2007

OBSIDIAN CAVE :
the second part of the Xibalpa Prime campaign is nearly finished. It follows Obsidian Palace after one of the players win the map.

18.05.2007

Obsidian Cave is complete, moving to Obsidian Space Port. I need to pack it and upload it, give me some time!

24.05.2007:
Obsidian Cave screeny:








Feel free to comment.



OBSIDIAN SPACEPORT is rising from the ground see here for some screenies!!





thanks for reading.

[Jaguar-Lord]

XIBALPA-PRIME CAMPAIGN/

I finished packing some brand new Lava textures. They look not so bad, see here for more detail. anyone interested ?

[Jaguar-Lord]

As promised this thread is now the main thread for a gamelike campaign I decided to make.

Knowing that linked-map for DC can't be achieve I tought about a new way of playing DoW.



My previous experiences as a tabletop roleplaying gamemaster for nearly twenty years shows me that plot, scenario and extensive background are essential to immersion into virtual reality universe. The child present in each one of us is in constant need of thrill and legend of epic scale.

This seed is present deeply buried into the constantly growing W40k universe. Since novels based on this universe begin to emerge from the warp it's growing to a full tree.



After a little reading dealing with the need people express when asked what they want to see in a DoW-DC campign, I sensed a deep need for storyline-scenario. The other is that the human being in order to fully enjoy any experience feels a deep urge to share it with others of his own kin.

Even a good campaign with strong storyline and rich background lacks this because it's single-player only.



For this reason I decided to give a new orientation to the maps I'm making.



If I was to tell you that it's possible to play a multiplayer campaign with Dow ?

I for sure will be frowned upon by the dubitatives ones!



but



There is a simple way to do a multiplayer campaign :



just take the storytelling technique and game-control mechanims used in tabletop RPG and hybrid these with the DoWgame.



All the storyline, the plot and the causes-consequences related to defeat or victory underlying the whole campaign stay external to the game engine using wathever format you find fit with your own feelings.



The only thing needed to be done are :



Decide of your campaign orientation :
exploration, epic battle, deamon hunt, whole world invasion....galactic crusade.

Design the environement and setting:
concepts, particularities, iconography and so on. History.....historical context (post heresy, terra siege, humanity fall, Eldar past, Necron internal war,.......)

Create the storyline and the plot : this is the most critical phase of the whole operation for you have to think on every aspect of the plot. This kind of game doesn't express the same freedom of action present in true RPG. The basic here is designing a (not so-)simple "decision tree " underlying the storyline.



At this stage you'll decide which race you want to see in the game and which are going to fight each others and why. Everything is possible just remember to stay as close to the existing-official W40K background, this choice will have a direct impact on the way all the following will be designed.



Example: if the necron player won the previous episode he starts on "starting location" 2 on "Obsidian Cave" map. The Obsidian Cave map as been designed to give edges to the player in starting location 2 , like more ressources, strategic advantage, more starting unit.......anything decided by the storyline......



More : using multiple SCAR files originaly external to the engine and tweaking the map from the events determined by who achive his objectives or not you can
achieve a high degree of game control on the maps.



Then you must establish a timeline : time flows and a good commander has to make the good choice at the right time.





Ok let me give you an example:



The chaos player manage to take and hold the CL on top of the central pyramid on the Obsidian Palace map. This was his main objective, he emerged victorious.

"The chaos commander controls now the ancient necron city and starts to head straight to what's hiding beneath the pyramid. Using hundreds of mutated slaves
they slowly reach what looks like a underground gigantic stone door pulsing with the green energy of unlife.
As soon as the first slave touched the cold stone his body turned to a dusty bag of dried flesh drained from his live. From the mouths of the faces carved on the door frame a deep moan ascent to fierce howl turning every living beign present in the tunnel to bonedust.


The chaos commander decided to use excavation machine, folded and dormant aboard the "Chaac-mol", the mothership of the chaos force lurking into the
immaterium near the Xibalpa system. For these machines to be deployed and brought under the city without revealing the starship existence, the chaos forces needs to open and maintain a warp-gate long enough to bring the Excavators and reinforcement to the ground. This is a slow but hidden way to bring the
machine to the ground. The most optimistic logisticians projections says 40 hours will be needed to achieve deployement, a long enough time for the enemy to
attempt a offensive on the chaos force entrenched into the obsidian palace.

An other way to get things done will be to take control of the space port lying east of the Obsidian palace, this will need a swift and fierce strategy and the loss of many lifes but more pleasing to the blood god. The chaos commander decided to consult is seers to get a glimpse of the gods mood."



From here you got the embryo of a decison tree: the chaos player have to choose between two maps: get to establish a invocation gate near the city or choose to take control of the space port lying in the sand.



During this time what are the other players doing :



They're given the same kind of choices.

One : try to retake Obsidian Palace.
Two : establish a strong base to the abandoned space port.
Three wait for incoming reinforcement......



Here enter's the timeline into the dance : if the chaos player decided to go for the invocation gate, it will take him 2 days. The chaos takes his shot and failed to complete "Invocation map" game.
He decided to turn his wrath to the space port, but two days have actually past and the imperial player has already taken the space port and is deeply entrenched into his position with artillery and mass of troops droping from orbit.....



The chaos players decides then to attack the space port on day three.

The gamemaster looks at the timeline: on day three an world event occurs: "the chaos gods anticipating a tsunami of blood turn their attention to the Xibalpa system, the immaterium started to boils with corrupting energy, giving more powers to chaos".
The game master loads along the "spaceport map" the "entrenched marines" SCAR-file (giving the space marine 10 turrets at specified markers, 1000 power at start, two operational power generators on slag deposit and two
Whirwinds) and the "world_event-day3" SCAR-file (giving to the chaos player: three possessed marine squad, 2obliterators squad and one bloodthirster as soon as he killed 100 enemy unit).



Now you get the point and the possibilities.





You have already guess that truly, one individual is absolutly needed : a gamemaster, someone who'll be the storyteller, ruler and will keep the game rolling, who'll get familiar to the decison tree, the plot the timeline and all the maps and files organisation.




Create the main Characters:
These characters will be actualy played by the human players, they have personal backgrounds history, objectives, motivation and so on ( the concept can be extended as far as you need it proportionaly to the roleplaying part of your game style).



Create non-player-characters: optional, some characters here to add some fun and scenaristic thickness to the story line. They can be used to play in a more roleplaying manner, thus introducing political plot and manoeuver between players.

Design the maps you need: quite simple in fact, time consuming but absolutly necessary !!

The fact that the multiplayer campaign map will be very specific to the campaign you are designing will effectively inder their use in an another style of game (like using a map in standard way without the event and scar code associated) thus making the map imbalanced and useless for traditional gameplay.



Do some texture work if you need to: a volcanic map without volcanic textures is no fun really. But a deepstriking team of terminators raiding a tyranid hive showing tyranid texture (incoming.... ) is a must !!!


Write a good story and make a clear procedure guide describing which file is needed when and what for....

This could turn into a true nightmare if the guide is messy, I'm sure you understand why !!

The gamemaster will have some hard work putting all the files altogether at the right time in the right place, giving life to the story and tracking the victories and defeats of the players and the consequences on the flow of events while keeping the story telling flowing.



You don't need to install a mod or new features breaking your online game. All the files ( the maps, the scar files, the decision trees are external to DC engine, they are brought into play when needed, thus requiring a bit of drag-and-drop pratice following the guidelines of the campaign guide.



This multiplayer game is particulary well suited for LAN-party where all players being in the same space(room) can effectively assume and play their role to the max, plotting again each others forging alliances and treason....promises and lies about support and logistic.



I'm aware that this way of playing DoW is quite.....alien to some of you but I'm sure this could be fun.



I'm working hard on the concept and hope i'll be able to release the Xibalpa-Prime cmapagin pack in a few months.



If you're interessted in this project I'll be more than happy to discuss and exchange ideas about it.

Of course for a man alone it is a huge piece of work, feel free to join the game.

[Jaguar-Lord]

Does this idea is completely crazy that there is no reaction or my previous post is....hummm.....heavy ?

waiting for comments and possibly partners on this project.

[jesukrixto]

It does sound like a neat thing, playing campaigns online and all that, but it does look like a lot of work, both in mapping, coding, and last the need for a gamemaster.

You could simplify it though, and think of it as a lineal campaign like DOW/WA, but with MP...only players wouldn't fight each other. It'd be more like a coop. Normal scarred maps, but with several fixed players, cutscenes, and the like. It'd be skirmish maps, so you could always set any missing teammates as comps if needed.

It's less flexible, but easier to plan and implement, and requires less organization from the players.

It's not like your idea doesn't sound interesting, and if you ever managed to bring it to life, I'd we willing to play it. Don't have time/interest enough to mod though(in general, not just your idea), so my contribution is forum discussion only

[etherdragn]

I had thought of something like this tool.
The best way would to make a website, or a flash game or something to control this part of it.

[Jaguar-Lord]

Obsidian Cave is nearly finished, after 3 weeks of intensive work and testing. It'll include some necronTunnel travel (supported by a scar code written by Incarnate big thank to You, it works great) and explore and capture rush to get control of the tunnel.

New texture (Volcanoes and lava) and as soon as the scar code is done damage generating terrain!!.
This 4 player map, in fact a 5pl, is designed for free for all, open alliances ad a fith player (comp or human) controling an overpowerful necron army....
More later !!!

[Jaguar-Lord]

I'm looking for people willing to test Obsidian Cave on multiplayer mode. You can volonteer by posting here.Anyone?

[Incarnate]

Sure pm me when you want to play, this weekend gmt whenever...if im not pissed in the pub,.. he he

[dfsp_spirit]

Sorry for posting in such an old thread but the link is dead, site says Deleted as illegal content. Was this project ever finished or is it available in a playable state somewhere else? The idea of a MP campaign sounds fun.

[Jaguar-Lord]

project was never finished due to switching to a single player campaign for DC, multiplayer campaign are to be crafted and designed for LAN, everything else is overcomplicated and requires a lot of work to achieve satisfying results (see the last attempt at dow files);

link to obsidian cave at been removed since a long time due me being an asshole and not willing to distribute the Xibalpa rime map set. if you want to play Obsidian cave i can send you a dl link via pm.

JL

[dfsp_spirit]

Ah ok. Seems I didn't read the thread properly, I assumed this one was for LAN play. (VPNs like Hamachi make the internet a LAN so that's no problem at all imo).

EDIT: Ok, I re-read the initial post.

And thanks for the offer, I'd definitely like to give it a try!

[jONES1979]

JL, I want to play it too!!!