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Topic: the atlantean tutorial story - what will it be like?

kraileth

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Joined: 2010-03-14, 16:34
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Posted at: 2010-05-19, 17:57

In this thread I'd like to collect information and personal ideas of what could happen. I don't know how much of the story has been writen so far but from what I see there were a few things being discussed and it would certainly not hurt to have these facts pooled in one place.

So far we know that the atlanteans have a different skin color - likely greenish. The atlanteans don't exist today because they met their demise. Their hair color is to be decided yet and could change. The basic economy is done for all three tribes and will most likely stay the way they are now. Balance changes may be necessary at a later time when it becomes clear that a tribe is too powerful or too weak. There may be more tribes to be introduced to the game. The atlanteans are not vegetarians but a future fourth tribe could be.

Now, the first level of the atlantean tutorial is in the making. In the latest versions the map seems to be done already and shows a nice island. Together with the name (from nemesis to genesis) and a picture named everythinglost showing a woman with a child looking upon a burning inferno in the distance, this is now where speculation starts.

Here's my attempt at an interesting story:

Due to massive vulcano outbrakes the home continent of Atlantis begins sinking into the see. Most of the Atlantean people are killed in this cataclysm. Those who survive fled to the surrounding isles, in deep shock of the events. The high priestess Tialee leads one section of survivers to one of the bigger islands nearby. There she begins constructing a provisional outpost to regain some order and to have a chance to survive. The player will learn the basic Atlantean economy and will have to collect a medium amount of wares of the basic types.

In the next scenario ("Gathering the lost") she travels to another island in search of other survivors. There she meets with Draemor, a captain of the former Atlantean forces who leads some refugees on this island. He has become very bitter over the loss but seems determined to conquer this fate at any cost. This scenario will introduce seafaring. The player will extend the outpost and finally build ships to visit the bigger of the many small islands. On these bigger ones (three perhaps) he'll have to build harbours on these so that all the remaining survivors on every island can gather. The scenario ends with Draemor's decision to lead the first wave of his people east over the far seas...

The third scenario ("Founding of a colony") tells the player that the Atlanteans have not been able to find uninhabitated land along the shores they have traveled along. Finally when their food is almost exhausted they need to land somewhere. As the priestess hopes, the people there are peaceful and allow them to settle and trade. However as the colony expands, it is clear that it is far to small to house the soon to arrive latecomers. So Draemor chooses to fight and even though Tialee protests, his decision is final. When Draemor threatens her, she leaves with her followers and a few boats.

This could be the starting point for a fourth tribe: The exiled Atlanteans (a name for them would have to be made up). They would share a few similarities with the normal Atlanteans but be different in other aspects. During their tutorial their leader, Tialee finds a place to build a base of operations. In the second map she hears about Draemor committing atrocities like human sacrifices to some dark gods. He has become insane and while he thinks that he would need to do this to save his people he actually leads them to the brink of destruction. Tialee stops him by conquering his capital in the second map but she is too late as he has succeeded in invocating the dark gods. A gateway into the underworld (blacklands?) is opened where a tribe of demon worshipers has dwelled. Tialee decides that they have done what they could by stopping the mad one but that her people are to small in number to confront this power. She remembers an ancient prophecy known only to the high priests of which she is the last one. She follows her fate as she gathers her remaining people - heading north. Far north. There, at the end of the world, it is said, that there is an entry into the earth itself where another world lies: The Innerearth. There, if anywhere, her people could recover over the centuries... In the third map, a winter map, she confronts two barbarian tribes and one tribe of those, known only as the dark ones...

That would make 2 (or better: 1.5) new tribes and surely is speculation enough for now. So, I'm curious: What do you think, what will happen?


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ixprefect

Joined: 2009-02-27, 14:28
Posts: 367
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Posted at: 2010-05-20, 11:06

Regardless of the actual content of the campaigns, I believe adding new tribes is a bad idea. The idea of some infighting between different atlantean leaders is reasonable, but having those 'other atlanteans' be a different tribe is something I do not agree with.

I believe we should strive to make every aspect of the game interesting and count for something. Simply adding more tribes is just adding more of the same, but the thing that really counts is the ratio of interesting stuff per content. So less content can actually be better, if it means more interesting stuff is happening per content. Consider that the tribes are also relevant for multiplayer: choosing between barbarians and atlanteans is interesting and meaningful, but choosing between atlantean variant #1 and atlantean variant #2 is problematic for a number of reasons. The choice isn't as meaningful and interesting, and you run into the dangerous water of the Paradox of Choice (where too much choice actually hurts).

What I would like to see instead is an overarching story for the three tribes we have (barbarians, empire, atlanteans). Suppose that part of this overarching story is a first contact between empire and atlanteans. Then we can show the empire's first contact with atlanteans in the empire campaign, while the same large-scale events can be shown from a different perspective in the atlantean campaign.

We could even introduce interesting twists into the story, e.g. an action by the atlanteans is misinterpreted by the empire, so you may see different interpretations of the same event in the different campaigns, perhaps even playing with moral ambiguity.

I guess what I'm saying is aim both lower, and higher. Restrict yourself to what's already there content-wise, but at the same time come up with a way to put what's there into a conflict that is more interesting from a narrative point of view.


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SirVer

Joined: 2009-02-19, 15:18
Posts: 1445
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Location: Germany - Munich
Posted at: 2010-05-20, 19:34

The big story arc for the atlantean tutorial and the following missions (which are empire, barbarian and atlantean missions and will contain persons from the other tutorial campaigns) is already sketched out. The development happens in the campaigns branch on launchpad.


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ixprefect

Joined: 2009-02-27, 14:28
Posts: 367
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Posted at: 2010-05-20, 20:13

I'm glad everything is in capable hands face-smile.png

Though it may be more helpful for some curious people if you divulged more than this somewhat ominous sounding statement face-wink.png


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SirVer

Joined: 2009-02-19, 15:18
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Location: Germany - Munich
Posted at: 2010-05-21, 13:10

Most of the planing is going on in skype talks between nasenbaer, winterwind and myself, so nothing is written down. That's why I can't show anything :(. When I or someone else finds time, we will write the story arc together, but time is a little scarce at the moment.

We continue to advance the campaigns and we will need play testers then :).


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