The Will of Atai: Complete

(June 6th, 2009 - June 15th, 2009) Completed: July 31st, 2009
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Ricky_Honejasi
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Re: The Will of Atai: Complete

Post by Ricky_Honejasi »

Critical Aspects

-> YES - Campaign's storyline is between Starcraft 1 and Starcraft 2.

Comments related to the direct scoring

===TEXT
-> + Few text mistakes
-> + Grammar seems fine overall
-> + Text properly formatted for reading
-> + Text modified properly to fit the characters' speech.
-> - Some negligence at updating mission objectives (player might not remember what to do in second part, etc.)
-> - Fourth wall breaking (shouldn't considering characters ties with some official story characters)

Note : "Fourth wall breaking" implies when a game character talks openly to the player and/or is aware that he is a game character rather than believing to be a real person in its own story.

===PROFESSIONAL
-> + Extra sounds are added (although can sometimes sound very odd)
-> + Have a credits section especially for music sources (although lacks campaign creator's name)
-> + Decent thread updates with screenshots and videos

===TRIGGERING
-> + Good overall and functional overall.
-> + Use of switches and locations
-> + Commented Triggers
-> + Best use of hyper triggers I have seen
-> + Triggered special hero abilities
-> - Obvious negligence/laziness in some triggering aspects (no loading of the next map, quite a few heroes can just die without defeat, no mission objectives updating)
-> - One critical bug (although unlikely to happen)

===MAPPING - LAYOUT

-> + The layout seems very good overall.
-> + Had no trouble maneuvering the maps.

===MAPPING - BEAUTY

-> + Okay overall (looks okay but can look often rushed and plain)
-> - Some doodads were put but lacks doodads in general

===Brownie Points
Note : This doesn't influence directly the scores but might improve it

-> + First version released 1 week before schedule (considering the beta one)
-> + Clearly different campaign
-> + Achievement points system
-> + Passable voices (although it would clearly need more work on it)
-> + Interesting boss battles
-> + Custom music

===Drawbacks (outside the score system)

-> Voices lacked volume (can't be hard to hear especially with other sounds)
-> Lacks some explanations at times
-> Quite a few annoying minor details

===INDIVIDUAL MAPS=====

GENERAL

Suggestion : There should be a readme or extra map with the different achievements possible and how to reach them.

Note : I decided to ignore any capitalization of "zerg" and equivalent mentions and such considering that it seems it's fine otherwise.

Issue : More efforts should have been made to update mission objectives in addition of loading the next map when the first one is done.


MAP 0 (PRELUDE)

Odd : Looks odds when units and ships clusters up with the arrival of the zerg.
Odd : Jack's portrait don't stay up when he stays.



MAP 1

Complain : Lack of music warning when the campaign uses custom music.

Complain : Does the Protoss even have a "Lord" status (for Lord Finn)? Espacially considering that the character in question has ties with Tassadar (thus likely with the Protoss ranking system).

Typo (Mission) : In achievements, 10 + 40 = 50 (while it's written 40 as total instead of 50).



MAP 2

Praise : Kane's new abilities in addition of the gas hyper triggers are probably one of the main features that makes this campaign very interesting.

Issue : No message when a hero dies (just a game defeat). If I permitted it in map #1 since there was only two units, in map #2 it's much less excusable due to having an army and the hero can die in the chaos of battle).

Suggestion : Would be nice to tell the player to use CTRL+1 when Kane is selected and CTRL+2 when the ability building is selected to easily hit the 1 and 2 keys to switch between the two.

Issue : Unit Unplacable (Spell Effect) can be seen (although a bit hard to do otherwise and considering how the battle abilities can be used everywhere).

Bug : Unit Unplacable (Cerebrate Kirin) can be seen (when Kane is just below it after killing it)

Typo (Briefing) : "ofAtai" instead of "of Atai"



MAP 3

Bug : Possible to get any of the three controlled heroes killed without a defeat. Even if they are unlikely to die, there should be triggers about them anyway.

Issue : Mission Objectives doesn't include Lord Finn's survival (since it's in the past and he appears in the campaign's initial present thus he is supposed to stay alive).

Issue : The Ganthithor unit speaks yet you see Jack's portrait (after going to the beacon).

Bug : Possible to destroy the Ganthithor after it appears at no defeat (it should be invincible).



MAP 4

Odd : If Kane loses all his 10 "lives", his hero unit should be killed prior the defeat.

Complain : "Lives" can be misleading thus should be renamed "Missile Shield" or something that might not imply that Kane can die normally and be auto-revived without one of those "lives".

Suggestion : At the beginning of the map and in-between battles, it might be nice to get 100 gas instantly to avoid waiting a bit to get it back fully.

Critical : In the beginning, it is possible to "kill warp" into the first beacon to trigger the first boss battle yet stay stuck in the cave preventing the completion of the map. However I admit that it's kind of intentional plus can just reload the map.

Suggestion : Might want to have 2 pylons instead of one to have 16 psi instead of 8 to use 3+ special abilities at once.

Bug : Unplacable unit (Cerebrate Zakat) seen after killing it and moving Kane under.

Issue : Considerable text dislocation of Jiinsh's name in the dialog after he is eaten.




MAP 5

Odd : In the briefing, Raynor looks odd at using the dialog of "should have stayed in bed this morning" in this specific case. Probably you could have used another of Jim's dialog and change the rest of your dialogs to fit better instead of Raynor looking half-stupid.

Issue : "Why there is a countdown timer?" is the first "fourth wall breaking" seen. Could have been avoided easily (make it narrative instead of spoken).

Issue : Same issue as above about the information regarding Thulera's forms of Templar and Zealot.

Issue : Sorry but you don't tell a player to remember the story in terms of objectives if there are new ones. You clearly state any new objectives.

Odd : Hero carriers should have a different name than "Ganthithor" (even look more odd when there are four of them).

Odd : Cerebrate Kull's custom dying sound sounds more like a baby crying while falling down a high building rather than a cerebrate's dying death.

Issue : Mission Objectives SHOULD update about getting rid of Lord Finn when it comes to the second part of the map (since some might believe they must destroy his whole base instead).

Issue : On second part, should remove science vessels on the map + leaving heroes from the bottom-middle center views choices.

Bug : Thulera's Templar form can be killed without a defeat.

Typo (Mission) : "thouand" instead of "thousand" (Said by Kull)

Typo (Mission) : "warrios" instead of "warriors" (Said by Lord Finn)




MAP 6

Complain : In the briefing, quite a bit of delay between ATAI's last words to Kane and Kane's self-speech.

Odd : The sound played when showing the appearances of the Khala is quite odd.

Issue : Even more fourth wall breaking when Kane speaks about saving the game.

Complain : Should have kept the stargate's unit name from map #2 that semi-describe the abilities.

Complain : While most of the voices can be okay, Zakat's voice is simply too bad however.

Issue : Unplacable Unit (Zakat's Brood) can be seen.

Complain : Zakat uses slowdown a bit too often and/or lasts too long giving a serious handicap when you want to be nearby Zakat to cast the corsair ability.

Issue : The new abilities aren't explained much which leads to some confusion especially about the shuttle ability.

Bug : For some reason, killing the lesser and greater spire buildings cause defilers to show mostly below-left of Kane and follow it instantly all the time. It causes Kane to have serious trouble to move down afterward until he uses his reaver ability.

Issue : LOTS of "Unit Unplacable (Terran Valkyrie) right after killing Zakat (I think it even froze Starcraft for 1 or 2 second).



MAP 7

Praise : Credit section with detailed music sources

Complain : Lack of campaign author's name in credits

Bug : For some reason, the two friendly ghosts shoot each other when the hydralisks start attacking.

Complain : Zerg invasion should be more swift considering it is a "filler" between the credit parts.

Typo : "sittin" instead of "sitting" or "sittin' " (due to character's speech)
Last edited by Ricky_Honejasi on Fri Oct 23, 2009 12:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Will of Atai: Complete

Post by thebrowncloud »

Krazy wrote:
Ricky_Honejasi wrote: Complain : Does the Protoss even have a "Lord" status (for Lord Finn)? Espacially considering that the character in question has ties with Tassadar (thus likely with the Protoss ranking system).

Outside of this campaign, no, you will not see references to it.  However, I did strive to make it consistent with the Protoss lore and universe, and it's supposed to reinforce the themes of the project.  It is below the rank of Praetor and Exectutor, so there would be little reason for you to have dealt with "Lords" in vanilla.  Basically, since Lord Finn's group chose to leave Artanis, doing so left them without the traditional Protoss Heirarchy, so the highest ranking member was a comparably lower-ranked leader.
On the contrary, there "is" one. The reason for the quotations is that it is not an official title, but rather self-proclaimed. The lord I refer to is Lord Zyrkhan, leader of Zyrkhan's Legion from the first "Mercenaries" scenario map. So to say that lords don't exist in protoss society isn't entirely true, but also not entirely false (potentially....)  :-\
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Re: The Will of Atai: Complete

Post by Ricky_Honejasi »

Ricky_Honejasi wrote: Critical : In the beginning, it is possible to "kill warp" into the first beacon to trigger the first boss battle yet stay stuck in the cave preventing the completion of the map. However I admit that it's kind of intentional plus can just reload the map.

Wait, can't you still teleport to the boss fight once the briefing is complete?
No, I imply using Kane's right "teleport attack" into the beacon to trigger the battle yet stay stuck on the beacon while the first boss fight is going on.

This bug could have also prevented the second boss battle but you do have a trigger to instant move again Kane a bit after it has been triggered so it's less risky overall.
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Re: The Will of Atai: Complete

Post by Dem0nS1ayer »

It's fun to use the scout spell when you're fighting the boss in Hell, especially when you've got low shields/hp.  You can use the spell near a strip of high ground, and you'll be teleported to the other side.  ;D
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Re: The Will of Atai: Complete

Post by chris »

Ricky_Honejasi wrote:

Odd : In the briefing, Raynor looks odd at using the dialog of "should have stayed in bed this morning" in this specific case. Probably you could have used another of Jim's dialog and change the rest of your dialogs to fit better instead of Raynor looking half-stupid.
I disagree. I don't think there is a better one he could have used and it doesn't really make him look stupid, it just makes him look fedup.
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Re: The Will of Atai: Complete

Post by Krazy »

ATAI Briefing feat. Aero 

I have begun the process of making the "Cinematic Version".  Unfortunately, since work and school have started, and I'm also in the process of working on a new secret project, I haven't had as much time to do the revisions as I'd liked. 

Please note that the "Cinematic Version" should still be seen as a veteran level campaign, just a slightly less balls-to-the-wall-harder-than-flame-knives difficult campaign.

Cinematic Hell: http://www.4shared.com/file/129785201/7a0b994e/ATAI_6_Hell_C.html

Difficulty Changes:
-Beginning area's terrain streamlined so that the enemy units path in only one direction
-Some enemy units are weaker
-Some enemy units don't spawn until you've killed certain buildings
-Kane starts with 4 ups, more starting minerals, 2 free dragoons, and a second probe
-One of Zakat's slowdown effects is gone

Other Changes:
-Some text changes in the briefings and unit names
-Zakat has a new voice
-Unplaceable unit errors should be fixed
-One of Zakat's slowdown effects is gone

Here is the Cinematic Version of Map 2 - "Kirin"

http://www.4shared.com/file/129591348/99b39135/ATAI_2_Kirin_C.html

Difficulty Changes:
-The player starts with more minerals
-The player and the comp ally start with 2 ups
-The "Infested Marine" has been dramatically nerfed
-The "Hydra" has been somewhat nerfed
-The player starts with a natural expansion
-A pylon and some cannons are placed in a strategic location to encourage the player to build in that spot

Other changes:
-There is now a pad to the left of the map where the player can see the requirements for achievements in-game.

Notes:

Although deemed "cinematic", please bear in mind that this is more a "less difficult" version rather than a straight "easy" version.  Fighting Cerebrate Kirin will still require some skill and patience, even if on the whole she should be *much* more manageable. 


The Cinematic Version of Map 5 - Brothers

http://www.4shared.com/file/129603288/15496c5a/ATAI_5_Brothers_C.html

Difficulty Adjustments:
-Kull's Personal Guard now has 4 ups instead of 5
-You and your allies now all start with 2 ups
-Starting resources have increased
-Emperor Mutalisks have been slightly weakened

Notes:

Once again, this version is "less difficult" -- not "easy".  In fact, the very very ending is actually harder now.  However, the map as a whole should be dramatically easier, the beginning should be more exciting and reward early rushes/early pushes, your allies should do significantly more damage to enemy bases, and you should on the whole not have to "babysit" the comps almost at all (although defending them and taking attacks will still let them build and do more).
Last edited by Krazy on Sat Apr 10, 2010 4:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Will of Atai: Complete

Post by thebrowncloud »

Okay, so I want to download and play this campaign considering I finally have some free time to sit down and enjoy one of these tomorrow, but I don't have time to look through the whole thread and see which dl is the one I should use. Is the one on the op the one I should use or is it one of the others? If the latter, can you repost it here so I don't have to go looking for it? Sorry to sound lazy, but I've just got so much stuff going on and I want to get in as much playtime as possible tomorrow.  :-\

When I get to it, I'll PM a review to you. Looking forward to it!  ;)
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Re: The Will of Atai: Complete

Post by Legion »

Krazy wrote: I would suggest using the cinematic versions, and then downloading the other maps.  Sorry, since I kinda got sidetracked in the middle of editing (school started), I didn't complete the "Cinematic Version" and thus the most recent version has no full .zip upload at the moment.  I would go with these links:

Warmup
The Cave of Crystals
Kirin
Flashback
Zakat
Brothers
Hell
Epilogue
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Re: The Will of Atai: Complete

Post by thebrowncloud »

Is there a seperate download for the mod as well? Sorry to be nitpicky. I just want to make sure I'm using all of the most recent stuff and I'm not sure what is what anymore. TOO MUCH PRESSURE!  ???
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Re: The Will of Atai: Complete

Post by Dem0nS1ayer »

Legion wrote: If I had the power, Krazy, I'd give you extra points for dedication and commitment to your project.

You're a dying breed.
If someone were to grade my maps and tell me what I need to improve, I would do that also.  ::)
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Re: The Will of Atai: Complete

Post by thebrowncloud »

Krazy wrote: Dem0n, clearly the only reasonable explanation is that Ricky hates you and is secretly stalking you right now, just waiting to move in for the kill.
Hehe, I feel like such a scenario could apply to most people right now, since Ricky still has roughly half of his left and Dread and Lav either aren't giving us any notice of their reviews or haven't started. It's a conspiracy to kill all the new talent, I say! They lay in the shadows, scheming the dark deed.... It's an insurrection of the 4YB contestents! Run for your lives! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!111111111oneoneonetwofifty-five
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Re: The Will of Atai: Complete

Post by Krazy »

I just want to thank everyone that supported this project and helped along.  There will be further updates in the future--probably including a .zip of all the updated versions, but I've been increasingly thinking that my next major project will likely be a co-operative multiplayer version or versions of some of my favorite boss fights from this campaign.  Unfortunately due to my schedule becoming increasingly hectic, it is unlikely there will be major updates before the next summer... but you never know. 

I'd also like to thank everyone who participated in the contest or supported it, especially Legion who helped me invariably with my first attempts at voice work, azala for his amazing help with triggers, and all the mapmakers who I drew inspiration from such as MilleniumArmy.  And of course, congratulations to the winners!  Your work will invariably inspire me in future projects!

For future updates see: http://starcraftgalaxies.blogspot.com/2010/04/will-of-atai.html


Warmup
The Cave of Crystals
Kirin
Flashback
Zakat
Brothers
Hell
Epilogue
Last edited by Krazy on Fri Apr 09, 2010 8:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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