The puppet (working title)

[Aquila]

Hi,
I'd like to enter the contest. I've made 3 out of 7 planned missions so far, here is what I'm going to prepare:

THE PUPPET

Dr. John Staunton is a scientist working in the Alpha Research Center. As a biologist, he's a member of professor Edward Rosenstein's workgroup. Their project is top secret - they are going to create a new liveform! Now, it is a final stage of their project. Famous professor Rosenstein has finally accomplished his efforts: man 'produced' a creature equally intelligent and of the same physical attributes as the mankind! For some people that's grave news... But why should Staunton and Rosenstein take care of it - they are working for government, their research is fully legal, and they are well protected in the Center. When professor contacts John and asks him to come as quickly as possible to the experimental sector of the Center, Staunton doesn't know that this is only the beginning of his twisted and dangerous adventure, during which he'll visit three continents, command an army and meet mysterious people, becoming just a puppet in their hands...

It will be an alternative story, no connections to original StarCraft at all. Everything will take place on the Earth, in the future (we don't know exactly, where is the Alpha Center and when does the plot happens). Combination of a RPG and typical RTS, "The puppet" shall provide you original, surprising story and not very challenging gameplay (I created it as a story to tell, not a challenge only for experienced users). I'm not very able at programming or modding, or even music-making, so I won't probably include any additional customs nor music. I would like "The puppet" to be something like interactive film, so difficulty level should be similar to BW campaigns.

And here is our main hero:
John Staunton
29 years old, Master of Science in biology. Intelligent, slightly ironic and independent man. His amazing talent in science was quickly discovered by his teacher and tutor, professor Edward Rosenstein. Soon after achieving the Master degree, he left the university and began his work as a specialist in the Alpha Research Center. This top secret government facility is working on the most ambitious and dangerous projects in the mankind's history. John was an assistant of Rosenstein, whose task was to develop a new live form. Slightly frightened at the beginning, Staunton quickly realized that this is what he always wanted to do - changing the world forever. He doesn't have any second doubts about the positive role of his works - it is all for the development of humanity, he thinks. Creating another civilization may help us to better understand ourselves, to learn form each other, to improve life level all in the world. Idealist, he wants to be absolutely pure morally, he hates using strength, although he's quite a good sportsman. Workaholic, he doesn't have any private life. All he had he sacrificed to the science.


I'll post some screens in the evening.

P.S. Where should I put the link to the part of my campaign made so far? Shall I do it here?
P.S.2. Sorry, but I'm a computer idiot: how to post images from my computer in the post? Using [img] helps only when the picture is on the Internet, isn't it?

[Thalraxal]

P.S.2. Sorry, but I'm a computer idiot: how to post images from my computer in the post? Using [img] helps only when the picture is on the Internet, isn't it?

You can either upload the image to the forum by attaching it to your post, or upload it to an image host and link to it with the [img] tags.  I've been using Photobucket for all my image hosting needs, but there are other services out there.

Good luck, Aquila!

[Aquila]

You can either upload the image to the forum by attaching it to your post, or upload it to an image host.

Good luck, Aquila!

Thanks, Thalraxal!
Here are the screens from the mission one:

[imgwh 640x480]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh78 ... reen00.jpg[/imgwh]
Welcome in the Alpha Research Center!

[imgwh 640x480]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh78 ... reen05.jpg[/imgwh]
Safety systems are really impressive in this facility!

[imgwh 640x480]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh78 ... reen06.jpg[/imgwh]
A big moment for all the scientists...

[imgwh 640x480]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh78 ... reen09.jpg[/imgwh]
... but some unexpected guests come to ruin prof. Rosenstein's work...

[imgwh 640x480]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh78 ... reen12.jpg[/imgwh]
... it had to end like this.

[imgwh 640x480]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh78 ... reen15.jpg[/imgwh]
And it is only the beginning of dr. Staunton's trouble!

[Lavarinth]

For your transmissions, mind if I recommend a normal aesthetic that enhances reading speed?

http://www.campaigncreations.org/starcr ... text.shtml

This is how it is displayed in the campaign maps.

[Aquila]

Thanks a lot, I'll change the text format. Unfortunately, I've already done the screens from the first three missions, so I'll post screens today  yet with this old typing style. Anyway, I shall have it changed at the end of the next week.



Here comes the second mission, also RPG-style:

[imgwh 640x480]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh78 ... reen17.jpg[/imgwh]
The trial begins.

[imgwh 640x480]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh78 ... reen20.jpg[/imgwh]
A strange trial, you have to admit.

[imgwh 640x480]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh78 ... reen22.jpg[/imgwh]
But John can do nothing about the sentence.

[imgwh 640x480]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh78 ... reen26.jpg[/imgwh]
If you are going to be a hero, you must forget about the moral doubts. You are to kill...

[imgwh 640x480]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh78 ... reen27.jpg[/imgwh]
... to hack the computer systems...

[imgwh 640x480]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh78 ... reen28.jpg[/imgwh]
... to get surprising allies...

[imgwh 640x480]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh78 ... reen34.jpg[/imgwh]
...and to involve in a real combat.

[Aquila]

And the third mission, at last(?) out of the installation:)

[imgwh 640x480]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh78 ... reen35.jpg[/imgwh]
Eccentric millionaire, Steven Kovacs, offers help to John Staunton.

[imgwh 640x480]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh78 ... reen38.jpg[/imgwh]
And it quickly turns out that it IS necessary.

[imgwh 640x480]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh78 ... reen42.jpg[/imgwh]
John also learns that the victory...

[imgwh 640x480]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh78 ... reen44.jpg[/imgwh]
might immediately turn into a failure, when another player enters the game.

[imgwh 640x480]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh78 ... reen46.jpg[/imgwh]
Quite sophisticated players.

That's all for now, please send Your comments! And if You could tell me, here should I put the link to the part of my campaign that I've already made (maybe should I send it?), I'd be very grateful, 'cause the screens and the thread do not show perfectly, how the gameplay look like.

[Revan]

I like this so far. I am curious for your work (no, not because I want to steal ideas) so if you could upload it, please do so. When writing a post, just click on "additional options" and then you can attach the maps to your post.

[Marine]

Ya. Really great though excited for it

[Legion]

Hahah Steven Kovacs!

Looks good, man! Looking forward to it!

[WB]

Might as well point it out, from the last screenshot:

"Less words, more actions, And let your first action will be leaving this place."

Might want to fix that.

[Aquila]

Might as well point it out, from the last screenshot:

"Less words, more actions, And let your first action will be leaving this place."

Might want to fix that.

Less words, more actions. And let your first action be leaving this place --> is that correct now? Thanks in advance, English is a foreign language for me, so I'm not sure about it.

And here are the first three missions:
http://rapidshare.com/files/88843405/The_puppet.rar

Some voices might be too silent unless You turn down the music up to 25%, unfortunately. I'll try to improve it, but simple turning .wav files louder leads to very unpleasant rustle in the background. Do You know, how to chagne it? And could You please tell me, do You know any faster way of updating .wav files? Normally, I have to delete them via StarEdit, import again and then choose them again in all the triggers where they are used.

[Legion]

And could You please tell me, do You know any faster way of updating .wav files? Normally, I have to delete them via StarEdit, import again and then choose them again in all the triggers where they are used.

Nah, that's pretty much how it's done.

Trying to download your work now. Rapidshare sucks,though.

[Aquila]

I can't attach maps to post (I reveive an information about the session timed out), rapidshare crashes to some of You and box.net reqirues not more than 10 MB (first mission is exactly !0314 kB). Any suggestions, where may I place it?

[Revan]

I played through the missions and I would like to tell you my suggestions. Prepare for a rant.

-Make the missions a bit more harder. It's not even close to the level of Brood War. I know that you wanted to just tell us a story, but most players will get bored with this. The n00bs, like me, can use cheats if it's too hard for them. The second mission should have more enemy marines/firebats for example.

-Sounds....well, you know, some campaigns work better without voicing. Either get some friends to help you with that or just don't make custom voices. The terran advisor had such a beautiful voice in the game, please don't try to replace it with a man

-There were grammatical errors, but oh well, I could understand everything. Use "you"and "Mister", that's how they should be written.

-I have no problem with Staunton being a ghost but in the later levels the enemies will have the same Staunton unit. You could have used Stukov for example, but if it was intentional then never mind.

Have fun with the making of later levels. The story surely has a potential.

By the way, if the file is small, you should be able to attach it to a post.

[Legion]

I concur with practically everything Revan just said.

I appreciate that you've gone through the trouble of recording and implementing voices, but to be perfectly honest, I wouldn't use these voices. Initially, I thought you were mocking the Terran Advisor, which in itself isn't so bad, but then at some point I realised you were being serious -- which made it scary.

I was really bothered by the bad spelling and grammar. This, in combination with some pronunciation errors, made me want to skip each piece of dialogue (I didn't because I wanted to get the story).

The level design is good. I liked the installation maps better than the outdoor map, though. There was something about the different sectors of the installations in level 1. The computer said "ONLY FOR AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL" or something like that even after I had gotten clearance at the beacon. It did open the door, but I think that in order to avoid confusion, a switch trigger would get rid of this problem. (Hope you understand what I'm talking about here... )

The story is intriguing. My advice would be to run a spell check over your script, and redesign your sound or leave it out if you can't do that.