Imperial campaign..

I've had some extensive ideas for the Imperial campaign which my previous blog only briefly touched - namely on the randomly generated battles. That said, the most useful place for my primary focus should be with prescripted story battles like those of other scenarios already in Wesnoth, not only because they are easier but also because they are an excellent platform for telling a story.

So with that in mind, I set about designing the first scenario for the Imperial campaign. What was important for me was that it would be dissimilar from others in its focus on story and emotion rather than just the battle, with flexible objectives that would help develop a sense of flow and continuity yet avoid frustrating the player. I needed a story to be told with every part of the action, even one without dialogue or message.

Early parts of my concept came to me quickly - a shipwreck of the Oriental Imperials on Wesnoth's coast, lack of communication leading to blows between the sides, the presence of a Wesnothian traitor in the ranks of the Imperials, and an organic time limit rather than an imposed one.

Details of the story then began to flesh itself out for me. Two brothers, one of them samurai, find themselves surviving the shipwreck. The player would be able to establish some rapport with them through their simple struggle to survive and find food, only to be shocked out of the story when one of them suddenly dies to a Wesnothian horseman. Such an introduction serves a dual purpose; first, for the reader to identify with the protagonists, and second, to engage the reader's emotion. Surely, if you liked the samurai brothers: the older one's resourcefulness and the younger one's innocence, then the sudden death of the innocent one casts a certain indelibate dislike of his attacker.

The older one wil then survive the attack through a fortuitous discovery of a lost katana, washed up on the beach, allowing him to kill the horseman. The katana provides a sense of emotional empowerment after the helplessness of the previous moment, and the player's ability to avenge himself against the horseman offers some emotional consolation.

From that point on, I intend the player samurai to discover the rest of his Imperial fleet on the shores nearby. He'll meet Driscott, the Wesnothian traitor turned Imperial strategist who led them here, and begin the first game version proper of the scenario - recruiting and launching Yari Conscripts against enemy peasants and the occasional spearman. Its also here where the player will get to meet his first optional NPC, a teenage witch named Petra who you can rescue and who will join your side to provide some much needed magical support. This game/combat portion will be the second part of the scenario.

The third portion of the scenario will involve the arrival of General Ankara and the main southern fleet. A mighty oni warlord, Ankara will appear from a previously obscured southern region of the map, flanked by his two armored oni retainers. Unlike you, Ankara has no interest in capturing the towns of the 'barbarians' intact - he will be allied with you, but every town taken by him or his retainer will be replaced with a 'burned town' terrain and its population will become conscripted into Peasants. The player must rush to finish the scenario, defeating the end boss before Ankara can do so - or the player will win anyways, but with a different ending.

Essentially, the first scenario is unloseable. But if the player dawdles, his ending will be quite a bit less sweet - with Ankara getting to do what he wants with the population. Nonetheless, both endings should be interesting and it will be designed so that some players may want to 'lose' the race on purpose.