User:Ken Oh

What interests me in making Wesnoth add-ons is altering the gameplay so that it is mostly the same as normal, but adding one or two things which fundamentally changes the game. I like trying to make elegant systems but am not fond of creating storylines/dialog/etc.

Wesband + Modular RPG Era (v2, Wesnoth 1.5.2)

Objectives: Wesband is a Wesnoth version of a roguelike game (specifically Zangband) being developed by Dovolente. Dov has made an excellent dungeon generator that connects to an overworld and has chosen my Modular RPG Era as what he wants to connect with it. This is great news for me, who wants to develop the era but can't be bothered to create a campaign to showcase its features.

Result: Dov and I are discussing the future of development, while I'm working make the era compatible with the campaign. The plan is to start with humans and make a system that expands on skills, adds more spells and items (including potions, scrolls and wands). Other roguelike features (food, IDing of items, cursed items, etc.) will be considered as development continues.

Note that the modular nature of the era will be preserved. While it will be compatible with Wesband, it will also have the option to function just like it did before.

Today: Things are really rolling. Many things have gotten a lot more sophisticated. Weapons now show base and adjusted damage/attack values. Armor similarly shows you a lot more than it once did. There is a shop functionality, plus you can pick up and drop items that aren't equipped. The future holds a lot of balancing plus getting spells and other items to work.

Wesband

Modular RPG Era

Modular RPG Era (v0.1.11, Wesnoth 1.4.1)

Objectives: To create an RPG system that closely resembles Wesnoth's mainline era, but allows flexibility for individual hero characters to advance as they want, without the restrictions of classes. This could be combined with existing MP RPG scenarios or altered to fit with its own random RPG scenarios.

Result: Most mainline human and troll units are emulated. Units can gain skill points, gain levels and buy from shops.

Today: I've come a long way with the era but there is still plenty left to do. Find the latest version on the campaign server or here: Modular RPG Era

Living Villages (v1a, Wesnoth 1.3.10)

Objectives: This is actually a side afterthought of some code that is going to go into the core of the Modular MP RPG Era. The idea is making organic scenarios where the environment interacts with itself as well as the player.

Result: While it works and should be fun, there's not much balance to it all. The villages belong to a side on a MP map where they can expand or be destroyed depending on terrain and player actions. The villages can't be captured, but rather they are effected when a unit rests there. Income is gained by whatever side taking the gold from the village.

Today: I'm not planning to do anything else with it. It took just a little bit of work to do beyond what I already had and I'm happy with it as it is. Find the latest version on the campaign server or here: Living Villages

Abilities Era (v0.3.1a, Wesnoth 1.3.11)

Objectives: To create a fun era in which every unit has an ability or weapon special that is not found anywhere else.

Result: I have made 3 factions (Pirates, Bandits of units leveled 1 and 2 and, with the help of many others, created a unique ability every unit. The level 1 units each have either an ability or weapon special that effects what it can do. The level 2 units have some sort of leadership or aura effect that alter adjacent units.

Today: The era is complete except for the small details. Play-testing and bug-fixing will come slowly as I'm more focused on other projects. Eventually new art would be nice too. Find the latest version on the campaign server or here: Abilities Era

The Endless War (v0.5.1, Wesnoth 1.3.2)

Objectives: I noticed some people on the forum talking about what it might be like if players didn't lose dead units, but got to recall them back next scenario. I decided to combine this concept with another of mine that pits you against a consistent enemy and, if you win against them, you move to a harder scenario for you but, if you lose, you don't just get game over. Instead, both of you move back to a harder scenario for them but an easier one for you. Only after one side can win a consecutive times in a row will the game end.

Result: I made this with one balanced scenario (a MP map) and a home map for each side, with plans to add a random map between the balanced and the home maps. I successfully allowed dead units to be recalled on both sides, but since the AI doesn't know how to recall, I had to do it manually.

Today: I ran into some bugs and eventually stopped working on the project out of frustration due to some bugs. I have since tried to start it up again, but between having problems with bugs and trying to update deprecated maps, I failed to complete the project. The latest version can be found here: The Endless War

New: Fortunately, this has inspired several spin-off projects. http://forum.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=19046 http://forum.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=16481 http://forum.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=20473

Despair and Decay (v0.3.1c, Wesnoth 1.2.x)

Objectives: My objectives for this campaign was to, firstly, make a campaign with Undead, an under-represented faction for campaigns. Secondly, I wanted to do something to make Walking Corpses much more usable and lastly I wanted to create large battles. I've always been one to simply make a huge random map FFA with AI and treat it as if it was a campaign. I thought if I could make large scenarios which have as many interesting parts to them as a few individual scenarios, then the player wouldn't get bored.

Result: I came up with an idea to retrace the Undead's push through Wesnoth during and slightly before the events in Heir to the Throne. Your character starts as a risen dead who has no real idea of his life's history. You go to places that Konrad and company later take back, like Elensefar, and then options unfold where you can possibly meet with Konrad back at Weldyn, at the battle for Wesnoth (this isn't the best ending, since it doesn't really happen in HttT).

Zookeeper was kind enough to write code for me that replicates any of your Walking Corpses. This make Walking Corpses useful, and often vital, to strategy. Also a hat tip to flava clown who did a lot of help things along.

The large battles were loved by some, hated by others. My problem is when I was working on the campaign, I didn't know WML well enough to add a rich experience.

Today: Development is on hold. It's not that I have lost interest in the project. It's simply that there are so many more interesting things I've been working on and want to finish before I go back to coding as mundane of a project as a regular campaign. Even though only 4 scenarios remain, a lot of work needs to be done cleaning up some scenarios, making some more interesting and working on writing the storyline down. That is not to mention updating maps and WML for new versions. I regret abandoning the project and disappointing and losing an asset such as flava clown. The latest version can be found here: Despair and Decay

Marhault's Dominion (none released, Wesnoth 1.3.9)

Objectives: Spencelack's Ooze Mini-Campaign got me thinking about making a survival scenario where you have to protect your castle from waves of sieges. Also, the aim is to blur the line between campaign and scenario.

Result: I made a huge map with a castle in the center where you can only recruit peasant units to start with. From there you can upgrade them to more advanced level 0 units which can then be advanced into any of the Loyalist (and some Bandit) level 1 units. Any advancement to a unit unlocked the recruitment of that unit, all except for level 3 units (you can eventually recruit Knights, but never Grand Knights).

Your castle is surrounded on 4 sides by Elves, Undead, Bandits and Orcs. They have keeps and leaders and they constantly recruit to siege your castle. If you manage to kill a leader, it is then replaced by another one a few turns later, but at least you get a reprieve from that side's recruiting for a while.

Also, later in the game, events are triggered that enable quests. These quests are mostly only able to be completed by a certain level 3 unit. Once completed, they give that unit a special treasure or ability which makes the unit unique and very powerful.

Today: I lost all of Marhault's Dominion when my laptop succumbed to a Chinese virus of some sort. This is half good, because I wanted to rewrite a lot of it, it's also bad because I'm left with nothing. While the code needed is rather simple, the work is very time-consuming. If I ever get this done, it'll be after I'm done with my RPG project.