RPG Wind's End Beta (college final project)

Goober4473

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Myself (Chris "Goober" Ramsley) and my two partners, Randi Pawson and Matt Fugere, have been working on this map as a final project for the Interactive media and Game Developement major at Worcester Polytechnic Inititue.

We need as many testers as we can get. The game is currently in a beta state. We have a bit more content to finish, and some bugs to work out. If you're interested in testing and giving some feedback, head over to http://windsend.weebly.com/

The current map up there is outdated until I can talk to my partners in a few hours, so if you want the most up to date map, the following link will remain updated as often as possible: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/526357/WindsEndWorld.w3x

For a bit more information, the project is titled "Interactive Story Generation," and the abstract for the project is below:

The purpose of this MQP was to create a game with a dynamically generated story, rather than a linear or branching one. In Wind’s End, instead of a prewritten story, each non-player character has goals it may wish to accomplish. These goals are independent of one another but due to their impact on the world state upon completion other characters are capable of considering those changes when evaluating future goals, thus forming stories and they would form in reality.

Goals are managed and restricted through a “Drama Manager” which assigns goals to characters while ensuring that only one important event is happening at once, thus preventing the player from being overwhelmed.

The player, who takes on the role of an adventurer, may attempt to alter the course of events throughout the game as he or she pleases, either by fighting with other characters in town or by talking with them through a unique objective-based conversation system. There are no conditions for winning or losing other than the death of the player, so the player is capable of playing the game as he or she chooses without guidance towards any particular end condition.

Also, here is the script for the tutorial, as it will appear in the map shortly. The basic idea though is to define your own goals. You can help the town out and try to fix all of their problems by defeating the goblins, thieves, etc., or by convincing those enemies to become friends. Or you could pick a faction and help them get what they want. Or you could just mess with everyone and see what happens. If you slander people to each other, they'll eventually start fighting.

Notes: The drama level is in place of upkeep. It tracks how dramatic the world is, and rises over time and as stuff happens. The quest log is also replaced by the information log, so remember to check that after you ask for information.

1) Button: "If this is your first time visiting Wind's End, it's recommended that you take a quick tour before embarking on your journey. Would you like to? (Yes/No)

2) Text: Welcome to town! First, shouldn't you learn a bit about Wind's End Bastion? Look north! It's Richard Snair, the town's innkeeper! Try talking to him. Click on the "Talk" button in the bottom right corner of the screen, and then click on Richard.

3) There you go! Now you get to select the objective you'd like to accomplish in this conversation. Try selecting "Ask For Information".

4) At this point you can choose what you'd like information about. Select "Faction", followed by "Townsfolk". Feel free to observe your other choices as well. It couldn't hurt to familiarize yourself with the other factions around here!

5) Congratulations! Richard doesn't mind telling you about the town. Click on the "Information" button in the top left corner of the screen to see the information you've obtained.

6) (After the information box is closed) You're getting the hang of it! Now you're ready to mingle a bit more. Try complementing someone now. Go talk to Edward Snair, Richard's brother, the shopkeeper, to the east.

7) This time, select "Praise" as your objective, followed by "Character" and then "Jonathan Mostan", another adventurer in town, but once again, it may benefit you to observe some of the other names and faces of our community.

8) As you might have noticed, instead of automatically succeeding at your objective, you are now faced with a new menu, and an initial score has been set above your head.

This is the stance menu. From it you may choose the stance you'd like to take towards your opponent, who will also choose a stance. Weighing the two chosen stances against each other will either tip the scales in your favor, or your opponent's. Pick a stance, any stance!

9) Check it out! The score changed based on the stances chosen. Additionally, with each exchange the score range narrows a bit. Currently, if the score reaches 95, you succeed with your objective. If it reaches -95, you fail to do so.

Continue to select stances and try to get a feel for what your opponent likes to choose, as well as what works well against that particular stance.

10) (Win) Way to go! You succeeded, and now Edward thinks a bit more highly of Jonathan Mostan. Perhaps they'll become better friends in the future due to your actions...

10) (Lose) Nice try, but it looks like Edward isn't about to change his opinion towards Jonathan. You'll just have to try again later I'm afraid.

11) After the tour is over, feel free to try out other objectives, targets, and stances, and see how they affect the world around you.

For now, let's take a trip to the north side of town. Head straight up the path until you end up in another section of town.

12) This is how you travel. You'll find that some zones take days to reach. Travel if you must, but take heed: the town does not stand still during this time. It will change in your absence, perhaps drastically.

13) (Drama level increase) Well look at that! The drama level increased. This will happen periodically as time passes and the events around town become more frequently intense. Prepare yourself!

14) Although you should try to avoid it, sometimes combat is the best option. To attack a target, click on the "Attack" button and then select your target. Be careful though. Attacking commoners may cause other commoners to attack you, and attacking someone a lot of people like will make them like you less. They may even want to kill you. Also, your actions will affect the overall drama level. Basically, don't bite off more than you can chew.

15) (Level up) As a special treat for going through this tutorial, you've gained a level! With this your stats have been increased and you may now strengthen your abilities and unlock others. Click on the "Abilities" button and select what skills you'd like to build.

Good work. This ends our tour of Wind's End. The drama level has been reset and you now have access to all objectives and abilities. Now go out there and show this town what you're made of!
 

Jaujarahje

I have now changed this in the User CP
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About to test, will give feedback when I'm done

I didn't get to play for long but I did a really quick test.
From what I've played, the start is kinda confusing, with no main storyline so I really didn't know what my goal was. Is the idea to just become really strong? Also the camera system went weird for me. I used the keys to move the camera, and when I used the keys the whole screen moved like in a normal wc3 map, and then about 2 seconds later the camera moved. This got quite irritating. Also in the 10 minutes or so I could play I never once found any enemies. Will play more when I get the chance
 

Goober4473

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I've been hard at work fixing a lot of stupid bugs. I've updated the file that my post links to with the latest version.
 

The Paragon

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This isn't your typical "hero's adventure" type of RPG. You don't have a particular goal. Ask some NPCs how you can help them if you're not sure what you could be doing, but the idea is that you just go around interacting with the world. Did you find the conversation ability?

Also, thanks for the feedback (I'm one of the other team members by the way). =)
 

Goober4473

TH.net Regular
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I'll look into that camera bug. It hasn't happened for me before, but I'll see if I can recreate it.

Also, I'll add the tutorial script, which will be in the map soon, to the first post.
 
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