WC3 has a proliferation of awesome map ideas, and many of them never get finished and released. I should know, I'm probably one of those most guilty of it. So, it is with great pleasure that I had a chance to revisit two very professionally made maps that have now been released upon the world:
This Wreckage (abbreviated to TW) is an epic single player RPG, the sequel to the highly applauded When the Freedom Slips Away (WtFSA for short - not to be confused with What the Fuck: South Africa). It follows the adventures of Guard Captain Henrik and many other characters from WtFSA, along with new characters, new weapons, new enemies, and a new and interesting plot, as well as side-quests a plenty.
Rao Dao Zao Interview
So, it's been a year since our last interview; how has This Wreckage progressed since then?
Not so much progressed as... Ascended to another plane of existence. It's absolutely massive!
How massive is 'absolutely massive'? What sort of length are we talking about here?
Well, my original plan was about four hours of gameplay, including dialogue and cinematics. But I seem to have ended up with around seven; which is... Quite a bit bigger than I anticipated. Not to mention when we first spoke, it was only a fledgling with hardly any main plot quest to be had. Now, it is a full-grown beast.
About how much of that is the main plot quests, and how much sidequests?
It's probably more side than main: of the main quests, there are 12, but they range over a wider area. Of the side quests there are... Considerably more; but they usually range over smaller geographical areas.
What sort of quests have you got Henrik running? Is he still going to be occasionally running around like a errand boy?
Well, he has a bit of a complex when it comes to quests -- that is, he is completely unable to refuse them. The over-all map area is quite large, and a few more demanding quest givers do have him carting heavy loads over long distances.
Are we going to be seeing Henrik's wise-cracking about his quests again?
He loves to make jibes... Whether or not they're funny is up to you. Even when he comes face to face with the nemesis that plagues him through-out the map, he can't resist being a little bit irreverent.
Backtracking a bit, how much time have you invested in making This Wreckage?
Time, hmm. Well, we last talked in June of 2007 -- it's now June 2008. But even at that stage, considerable work had been done on the map. So... A few months over a year. But you can't really narrow it down like that -- this map is the culmination of everything that came before it; it's got ideas and even pieces of (heavily upgraded) triggerwork from back in 2004, and the first Islands in the Sky map. In the form of This Wreckage, then, just over a year. But you could well say it's been in the making since I first set eyes on the World Editor.
That's a long time; the vast majority of big projects like this fail - why do you think yours, with WtFSA and This Wreckage, have succeeded?
Because I'm determined. If I hadn't really thought I was going to do it, I wouldn't even have announced the project last year -- but as soon as I made that project thread, I had committed myself to This Wreckage. I'm also a one-man-band; I don't need to depend upon anyone else for key components. If I need something, I make it immediately. Well, except the odd piece of (pretty-much non-essential, I might add) advanced scripting, and I have a pet jasser for that.
You do pay this pet JASSer in cookies, right?
Metaphorical, of course; with the postal service in the state it is, I could never get such things to him intact or before they'd gone stale.
Of course; virtual cookies are much easier. So, do you think this is the end of the line for you and WC3 modding?
I have my sights set on SC2, of course. But who knows when that's going to be out? Until then, I don't know. I think I deserve some time off, perhaps some Morrowind for the rest of the summer...
Speaking of Morrowind, I don't suppose any references to it are going to turn up in This Wreckage, along with the obligatory references to Numan and Deus Ex?
I think Morrowind's influence on This Wreckage is a lot more sublte than my other favourites. For example, the Empire's base camp builds up over time (uh, plot advancement); I ripped that right out of Bloodmoon, when Raven Rock turns from one hut into a bustling mining town over time. It's just really nice like that.
Interesting. How big an influence upon your artistic style and design choices do you think the games you've played have had?
Immense influence. There's nothing truely original in here; it's just mixed up, refined, distilled, changed. So what you get should be a thoroughly RDZ-esque experience... But those familiar with the same things I am will find it very easy to spot the little tributes.
It wouldn't be RDZ without the references, would it? Speaking of what's stayed the same, how you feel that you've evolved as a mapper over the time you've been mapping?
Well, I've got a lot better quality control now; but then again, that comes with knowledge, experience. One can hardly quality-control if they simply don't know enough to notice the quality required. Otherwise, I suppose I've just gone down the same avenue I always have, but now... Harder. I always loved to play singleplayer RPGs, but I can't say I ever saw myself pumping out seven hours of one.
On the same theme, is there anything you've managed to build into This Wreckage that you felt was lacking in your earlier works?
Hard to say. I think the difference with This Wreckage is that it pulls everything together -- weapon system, item stacking, skill selection, battle music, different geographical areas, dynamically expanding towns... I'd done a few of these seperately, for example, Islands in the Sky had the original skill selection, whereas WtFSA had the weapon system and item stacking. Now, it's all compressed into a single hunk o' junk. But I think it works.
Is there anything you'd like to say to all the onlookers and, day I say it, fans of your work out there?
"I hope it was worth the wait." Well, and "I hope it was worth the year in between when I said there'd never be a sequel." And I want to give my love to everyone else that's going singleplayer. It's where the party's at, kids.
Thank you for your time, and for creating another top-notch WC3 RPG!
Desert of Exile (abbreviated to DoE) is an innovative AoS, the prequel to Rising Dusk's previous AoS, Advent of the Zenith (AotZ for short). With a unique conditions system, thirty original and interesting heroes and lots more, this map is a very high quality example of its genre, while providing new and interesting gameplay, setting itself apart from the crowd in the way all great maps do.
Rising Dusk Interview
It's been almost a year since we highlighted DoE; how has the project moved on since then?
It's as much a personal journey as it has been a map development process, really. A lot of new approaches to design have found their way into DoE in its most recent installment, many influenced by my being closer to the ToB O project. If I had to single out a single manner that it's moved on since we last spoke, it'd definitely be in the ways things can interact mechanically in the game.
Could you expand on how those interactions have developed?
I've always had a semblance of physical/magickal damage distinction in my maps, though it was generally behind the scenes. Recently I went through DoE and redid all of the tooltips and brought magickal and physical damage into the equation. Certain items may interact exclusively with magickal damage and others with physical, allowing interesting combinations!
In addition, all 22 of the 'special' items in the map have been entirely redone to be valuable on as many heroes as possible. Long gone are the days when you only got that agility item for the agility hero. There are dozens of item builds for heroes, all building upon the conditions interacting with each other in new ways.
How important are item builds in DoE?
Sticking to the basic items won't cut your game short, but as you destroy structures and kill heroes you can develop your hero with items and manipulate them to better adjust for the current metagame.
Speaking of the metagame, how important is it compared to things like micro-control?
It practically is the game. DoE has developed to live in the here and now of every second of the game. Your position on the battlefield, your team's status, where you've hired what, these are all crucial elements of the map. Microing is a hero-dependent aspect of the game -- Some heroes require it more than others. That it isn't inherent in all heroes simply allows players to pick favorites based on what they do like.
How do you feel that having 30 heroes, as opposed to the 19 in AotZ, has worked out?
It's posed a different type of problem to what I was expecting, really. DoE is a map where hero interaction is vital to the game's replayability; there needs to be ample sources for all of the conditions. This promotes having more heroes and the map has taken to the higher hero count with flying colors.
The trickiest part of it is keeping the heroes unique enough in how they play so that you aren't repeating too much. There's a lot of room for thematic and mechanic overlaps with 30 heroes as opposed to 19, so you have to be a lot more careful with the design process. Ultimately, though, I think the map has benefited from having 30 heroes rather than 19.
Do you think DoE has lived up to what you set out to do?
You know, I found myself asking a similar question not too long ago when I released 1.09. My goals when I first designed DoE were to offer a different kind of AoS, not one that revolutionizes the way the game looks or feels, but one that revolutionizes the way the game plays. The level of hero interaction in DoE is unparalleled in any other competetive map out there as far as I can tell.
I feel that DoE has grown a lot since it's design in ways that even I couldn't predict. I hate talking in the abstract since it's oftentimes gibberish, but I really feel that DoE has a unique atmosphere and that as a result of generic conditions, its heroes have a unique characteristic about them. So yeah, I certainly think it lived up to and exceeded any expectations I originally had.
If you could go back, would you change anything about it?
As ever for me, making a map is also a learning process. If I could go back, I'd use a lot more vJass in the map as I only knew the very basics of it when I first started. I wouldn't change the design at all as I'm very pleased with its turnout, but I'd likely recode heroes to use scopes and the like if I could.
Where do you think you're going to go after this, modding wise?
A long time ago I made a map named AotZ and with my new found abilities I think I owe it at least one last remake before calling it quits there. AotZ will see a 3.00, of that I assure you. In addition, I'd like to work on my Dungeon Crawler map a bit more, I have so many fun ideas for that.
And of course we can't forget ToB O! It's been 4 years, it's about damned time we get that thing to a point where the team can unveil it to the world!
Anything you'd like to say for all the fans of your maps out there?
Yeah, actually... Thanks a lot. The truth is that motivation is a hard thing to come by these days, especially when modding an ancient game like WC3. That there are so many people both interested in suggesting things for my work as well as playing it with me is uplifting.
I don't think I'll ever be able to quit mapmaking so long as at least one poor sod out there wants to see the next thing I can come up with! Thanks guys! <3
Having helped test and find some bugs for RDZ in This Wreckage, I can say: It is a wonderful map. Amazingly fun to play, and whatnot. I enjoyed it a huge amount.
Having helped test and find some bugs for RDZ in This Wreckage, I can say: It is a wonderful map. Amazingly fun to play, and whatnot. I enjoyed it a huge amount.
I concur with everything. Rao, you're officially the most awesome person in the universe.
lawl, /giggle, iirc I came up with What the Fuck South Africa.
You people better read those interviews too. Sorry that the RDZ one is quite as full of Banter made of Win as the last one, but the last one was just epic. *grins*
Both are not only very, very good maps, but, more than that, great maps.
This wreckage map looks very nice but as the previous map, the music is played as sound and not music and is terrible and it can't be shut down. I had to edit the map, delete the music before play it and keep my brain alive.
So... does this mean project highlighting is back, or is this just a re-visit? 'Cause I've been trying to get mine highlighted ever since highlighting came around, and I never got to.
This wreckage map looks very nice but as the previous map, the music is played as sound and not music and is terrible and it can't be shut down. I had to edit the map, delete the music before play it and keep my brain alive.
the wreckage has awesome music <3 what are u complaining about?
This wreckage map looks very nice but as the previous map, the music is played as sound and not music and is terrible and it can't be shut down. I had to edit the map, delete the music before play it and keep my brain alive.
You deleted the music? Then you didn't even play this map!
-love
So... does this mean project highlighting is back, or is this just a re-visit? 'Cause I've been trying to get mine highlighted ever since highlighting came around, and I never got to.
It doesn't actually mean it's back, but highlighting is coming back, just I've been very busy, which I no longer am (for a few months, anyway). So stay tuned!
Those musics are killing brains ! A creator must consider that everybody don't have same taste and let the choice to stop the music or make less loud.
I'm not 14 years old, i can't hear that.
Those musics are killing brains ! A creator must consider that everybody don't have same taste and let the choice to stop the music or make less loud.
I'm not 14 years old, i can't hear that.
No, not really. If you don't share the same tastes, I think the idea was you didn't play the map.
omg... -.- A map that doesn't let the player turn down the music isn't polished. I think that you can never work in video game industry with a such mind.
omg... -.- A map that doesn't let the player turn down the music isn't polished. I think that you can never work in video game industry with a such mind.
Working in the video game industry is about making money.
Working on a game mod is about making what you want to make.
