Inky's Quest - The Cuttlefish Campaign

Discussion and development of scenarios and campaigns for the game.

Moderator: Forum Moderators

Post Reply
User avatar
Telchin
Posts: 355
Joined: December 20th, 2010, 10:01 am
Location: Czech Republic

Re: Inky's Quest - The Cuttlefish Campaign

Post by Telchin »

@drakearbiter - I'm glad you like my campaign. :D As for your question about "The Divining Pool" my thought proces for choosing which fish are on which side of the island was as follows: First, I brainstormed what kind of different abilities could fish have, resulting with the differenmt kind of fish present in the scenario. Lampreys and pteroises have "drain" and "poison" weapon specials, which don't work on the undead, so I figured I should place them on your side of the map, so their abilities have immediate use. So you're actually right, that the fish near the undead side are better equipped to fight the undead than the ones on the plyer's side. The triggered action that gives the undead a walking corpse every time they kill a unit was kind of meant to give the undead an advantage over the fish (though the fish have the advantage of spawning for free as long as their wardstones stand).
Now there are two possible answers why I'm not likely to change the scenario. The design answer is that I don't want to skew the scenario too much in favor of the undead - it's the fish that are the main gimmick of the scenario, the undead are there more for story reasons, you get to fight them in ther scenarios as well. If the Eternal Slave gets killed by the fish it's anticlimactic, but I'm not sure how often that happens. In my playthroughs I tended to run into the opposite problem - that the undead steamrolled the fish. I gues it depends how the RNG is feeling that day ;)
The more true answer is that I just got Civilization VI for my birthday and so far have only played the tutorial, so I don't have much time for BfW anymore... :geek: To be fair I haven't touched the campaign in while even before that (note that my previous post was in March) because I consider it feature complete. That doesn't mean that I don't value any feedback - I still check this thread and look at the download numbers (now over 2000!), just don't expect any big changes. I'm sorry if I disappoint you. :oops:
WackoJacko
Posts: 53
Joined: June 30th, 2019, 10:08 am

Re: Inky's Quest - The Cuttlefish Campaign

Post by WackoJacko »

Hey mate,
Just wanted to say that this was a fantastic campaign and I thoroughly enjoyed playing it. Playing as a the water-based monsters was something unexpected so far in my time spent playing Wesnoth. I went through the campaign on Normal difficulty and i noticed a few (minor) bugs.
-In the last scenario, Master Sea Head has the "battle healing" ability however it doesn't seem to take effect
-In the last scenario, it looked set for a massive climatic battle but then around turn 6 (when he runs out of gold) the enemy boss charges my troops and get surround by three Triple Tentacle and that's all she wrote.
Spoiler:
-Also, it would be nice to know that the final scenario is indeed the final scenario ;)
-I found it similar to the previous poster as the fish did most of the work in the "Diving Pool" scenario and I just came by to clean up what was left of them and the undead.
Spoiler:
-Final minor thing, the gold carryover was insanely highly, with early finishing bonuses making sure I had around 700-1000 per scenario.

Positives
-Style of game play, something different and unique in turns of race, units and use of terrains
-Dialogue, enjoyed the sarcastic/dry sense of humour
-Scenarios 8-11 and their use of changing terrain
-Scenario 6; the fish. Loved the idea and research that went into it.
-"Loosely" tying in the story with Wesnoth canon

All in all a fantastic campaign and I was wondering if you had any more out there or in the works?
User avatar
Telchin
Posts: 355
Joined: December 20th, 2010, 10:01 am
Location: Czech Republic

Re: Inky's Quest - The Cuttlefish Campaign

Post by Telchin »

@WackoJacko - Thanks. I'm happy you liked it. :)
-In the last scenario, Master Sea Head has the "battle healing" ability however it doesn't seem to take effect
I've tested it and it works for me. Did you atttack only undead units with him? I've coded the ability to only work on living units. yes, it's counter-intuitive when you only get in a scenario where you fight mostly undead, but that's part of reason why Rayvan also has some living units such as Cave Eyestalks (the other part is so the poison ability of your cuttlefish isn't completely useless). Honestly, I've given Sea Head the ability more for story reasons (Sosarix has the ability in the scenarios he appears in and the cuttlefish defeat him in the penultimate scenario). As you clearly demonstrate, the last scenario is easily winnable even without this ability.
-In the last scenario, it looked set for a massive climatic battle but then around turn 6 (when he runs out of gold) the enemy boss charges my troops and get surround by three Triple Tentacle and that's all she wrote.
Admittedly it's true that the scenario can be "feast or famine" depending of wheter Ravyan does the tactical suicide he did in your case. It's true that the scenario was meant to be more of a climactic battle (which is why I added those triggers that spawn additional units for him on turns 3, 6 and 9). In fact in the very first version of the campaign (way back in BfW 1.8) the last scenario was "High Risk, Low Tide" and Rayan was killed there (Sosarix didn't exist in that version), but it was very anti-climactic end for the apparent main antagonist, which is why I added "Burial at Sea" as a final battle (and the whole Sosarix subplot, so I had a bad guy to replace Ravyan in "High Risk, Low Tide").
-Final minor thing, the gold carryover was insanely highly, with early finishing bonuses making sure I had around 700-1000 per scenario.
The campaign is meant to be easy, becasue I wanted it to be plyable by myself. :hmm: I like strategy games, but I'm nowhere near good at them - I only win most Wesnoth campaigns on the easiest difficulty and wth lots of save-loading, and some not even then. Hence I erred on the easy side when making this campaign. I also wanted the player to be able to recall many of their advanced units so they can eperience all the custom units I've made for this campaign.
WackoJacko
Posts: 53
Joined: June 30th, 2019, 10:08 am

Re: Inky's Quest - The Cuttlefish Campaign

Post by WackoJacko »

No problem, enjoyed playing it :)

With regards to "battle healing", once i noticed it, I decided to try it out by attacking bats. I didn't check if the bats were undead though... :oops:

Wow, you've added so much. Very impressive.

It's all good, I'm the same way. I normally play through on normal difficulty anyways. As I said, I thought it was a minor thing just thought you might like to know. Thanks again
User avatar
Telchin
Posts: 355
Joined: December 20th, 2010, 10:01 am
Location: Czech Republic

Re: Inky's Quest - The Cuttlefish Campaign

Post by Telchin »

With regards to "battle healing", once i noticed it, I decided to try it out by attacking bats. I didn't check if the bats were undead though... :oops:
Bats aren't undead, so the ability should work on them and at least on my computer it does. If it doesn't it's a bug.
Wow, you've added so much. Very impressive.
It's true that the campaign has literally twice the scenarios (12 to 6) that when I first published in for BfW 1. 8 (the newest scenario is "Changing of the Guard"). However, I haven't really updated it for months, both because I think the story is complete as it is (though that's what also thought when I first published it) and because since I got a full-time job I don't have much time for Wesnoth anymore (if you look at my recent posts in this thread you'll notice that I keep mentioning lack of time, though maybe I'm just bad at time management).
WackoJacko
Posts: 53
Joined: June 30th, 2019, 10:08 am

Re: Inky's Quest - The Cuttlefish Campaign

Post by WackoJacko »

Update on the bats. I tried again and it worked this time. So i don't know what I did last time :lol:
Does the unit on your side also need to be next the enemy as well as Master Sea Head ? Coz if so then this is where I went wrong. I originally interpreted the ability as the unit only needs to be next to Master Sea Head, not the enemy as well.
Alright, strike that, I just tried both ways and it worked both ways. So who knows :D
I take it all back. your quest works perfectly ;)
User avatar
Telchin
Posts: 355
Joined: December 20th, 2010, 10:01 am
Location: Czech Republic

Re: Inky's Quest - The Cuttlefish Campaign

Post by Telchin »

Yes, the ability should work if you have damaged unit next to Master Sea Head when he damages a living unit with his melee attack. I'm glad it works. :D
jygli
Posts: 3
Joined: March 14th, 2020, 7:42 pm

Re: Inky's Quest - The Cuttlefish Campaign

Post by jygli »

Thank you very very much for Inky! Wesnoth is a shared hobby for me and my grandson, now 7 years and Inky is our favourite. We have played occasionally almost two years, and now finally reached the last scenario, hope that tomorrow will beat Lich-Lord finally.
User avatar
Telchin
Posts: 355
Joined: December 20th, 2010, 10:01 am
Location: Czech Republic

Re: Inky's Quest - The Cuttlefish Campaign

Post by Telchin »

@jygli - Thanks for your kind words. I see it's your first post on this forum, so welcome to this community! :D I'm bit late with the reply, so you've probably beaten the last scenario by now ;)
Ignatus
Posts: 4
Joined: May 20th, 2019, 12:53 pm

Re: Inky's Quest - The Cuttlefish Campaign

Post by Ignatus »

Thank you for a really cool and unusual scenario! I had lots of fun playing! The enemies are fantastic, the scenarios represent such a diversity of strategies, the humour is exactly what you want in such a game! Below mostly about the minuses, but believe me, I'm pleased.

Maybe what can disappoint in the game is the dependence on will or will not key enemy units get themselves onto your dinning table. I replayed 'Changing of the Guard' dozens of times until I got two closest obelisks repaired fast, ships arrived early and Sosarix entered the water before the turns are over (I play on maximal difficulcy but don't mind replay some turns if now I see the strategy I could have seen before). On the other hand, the final Sosarix's episode was too short
Spoiler:
Electric eels are really powerful and could clean the map single-finnedly in both their scenarios, maybe really nerf them a bit? The "problem" with the fish allies is that they won't rise their belly from the surroundings of their obelisk until a crowned enemy unit is in the water (actually, I should deal with them myself but I'm not less lazy), but when he is, they make a spectacular battle formation (though way too late). Just want to put out on some forum the screencap entitled "My allies are ready to help me" :lol:

I don't generally like the cave "cat's tubes" episodes, because most of AI units just stay in queues to the place when your changing champions slaughter them. Happily, though we play in caves a lot, it's only one scenario where this is the situation and nagas have enough move place to change (btw my lava squids almost again killed their leader who just came to replace his killed fighter).

The mushroom bridge episode is really frightening in a good sense
Spoiler:
Maybe somebody can pass it without losing a single unit :?

Again, thanks a lot!
User avatar
Telchin
Posts: 355
Joined: December 20th, 2010, 10:01 am
Location: Czech Republic

Re: Inky's Quest - The Cuttlefish Campaign

Post by Telchin »

@Ignatus - I'm glad that you've enjoyed my campaign. I reply a little late, as I usually only check this thread about once a week, but I'll try to answer your comments:
Maybe what can disappoint in the game is the dependence on will or will not key enemy units get themselves onto your dinning table.
Unfortunately I don't understand Wesnoth AI enough to change this and I'm rather weak player, so if the enemy does such mistake I'm more happy than dissapointed.
Electric eels are really powerful and could clean the map single-finnedly in both their scenarios, maybe really nerf them a bit?
While I agree that they're the most powerful of the four types of fish summoned by the wardstones, I didn't find their capabilities in fighting your enemies problematic, as you can't really rely on them to clean the map for you. As you correctly point out, they can't leave water, in "The divining Pool" they fight your units too, while in "Chaning of the Guard" you must activate the wardstones. Once again , I'm a weak player and I balanced the campaign to be playable by myself (and even then I abuse save/loading :oops: ).
Just want to put out on some forum the screencap entitled "My allies are ready to help me" :lol:
Now I'm interested ;) You can post it here, I don't think it's against forum guidelines.
I don't generally like the cave "cat's tubes" episodes, because most of AI units just stay in queues to the place when your changing champions slaughter them.
The idea for "Drowned Dwarves' Day" was actually my first idea for the campaign (it's blatant reverse of "Out of the Frying Pan" from "Under the Burning Suns") and I kind of designed the rest of the story of the original version of this campaign to lead to this (at the time it was the 5th scenario od 6). Your observation about the enemy behavior is correct and as you probably guessed, the appearance of nagas later in the scenario is meant to add more tension. However, if there was more open space for the dwarves and trolls to move, it wouldn't feel as a cave scenario.
before you realize that you won't have to fight the undead hordes with your five remaining units
Yes, the undead on the mushroom bridge are meant to be an advancing threat you're supposed to escape from, it's the summoned "reinforcements" and the nagas you're supposed to fight.
User avatar
egallager
Posts: 576
Joined: November 19th, 2020, 7:27 pm
Location: Concord, New Hampshire
Contact:

Re: Inky's Quest - The Cuttlefish Campaign

Post by egallager »

Thanks for making this campaign; it was fun to play thru! I made a few edits to it in the process, which can be found here: https://github.com/cooljeanius/wesnoth_ ... Inky_Quest
Some notes from my editing process:
  • What is up with all the extra whitespace in the scenario files? While I want to submit the changes I've made, the excess whitespace makes me think I'll have to separate my changes into whitespace changes and actual code changes before actually submitting...
  • S07 (The Divining Pool) was hard; the growth rate for the fishes gets out of control quickly.
  • It'd be cool if the mushrooms-to-water transformation were turned into a macro so it could be used consistently throughout the campaign. I copied it to one other scenario (the final one), but there's more where it'd fit as well.
  • Would it be possible to get a new Master Sea Head sprite at all? The current one looks rather out-of-place...
User avatar
Telchin
Posts: 355
Joined: December 20th, 2010, 10:01 am
Location: Czech Republic

Re: Inky's Quest - The Cuttlefish Campaign

Post by Telchin »

@egallager: Thanks for your sugestions. I apologize for a late reply, but the thing is that I'm basically on break from Wesnoth (as evidenced by my last reply in this thrtead being months ago). I may update the campaign again in the future, but it might not be soon. As for your suggestions:
What is up with all the extra whitespace in the scenario files? While I want to submit the changes I've made, the excess whitespace makes me think I'll have to separate my changes into whitespace changes and actual code changes before actually submitting...
I guess it's result of me writing the campaign in the regular Windows Notepad instead of some text editor better suited for coding? I may be completely wrong about this.
S07 (The Divining Pool) was hard; the growth rate for the fishes gets out of control quickly.
I agree it's one the harder scenarios, but in my experience the undead are usually capable of holding against the fish. I guess it depends whom of them the RNG favors more. Your idea to make spawned fish not loyal is interesting, but that would only limit the sharks recruited by the Island Guardian, while the undead could be still overwhelmed by the spawned fish. Conversely if I decrease the spawn rate of the fish, they might become too easy to defeat by both the player and the undead. I guess it's my fault for designing such an unstable scenario.
It'd be cool if the mushrooms-to-water transformation were turned into a macro so it could be used consistently throughout the campaign. I copied it to one other scenario (the final one), but there's more where it'd fit as well.
I didn't make it a macro because it's just a short event (unlike the flooding macro from the same scenario) and I didn't use it in the rest of the campaign. Your idea to use it in the last scenario (at least on easy difficulty) might be good - In my experience that battle tend do devolve into waiting for Ravyan to come on the shore. The fight with Sosarix in "Hogh Risk, Low Tide" can have the same problem.
Would it be possible to get a new Master Sea Head sprite at all? The current one looks rather out-of-place...
My pixelart skills are even worse than my coding skills, so for custom units in this campaign I had to rely on "frankensteining" existing sprites (in Master Sea Head's case I just enlarged and cropped the cuttlefish sprite). So unless someone volunteers to make a better sprite for me, it's not going to improve.
In 10 (Drowned Dwarves Day) the undead showed up too quickly and caught up with me before I had a chance to make much progress, so I delayed them a bit so I could have a chance to explore first.
This is another event that can be unstable - if Ravyan's forces emerge too late, they become superfluous for the scenario's compeltion. That said I like your idead to change the turn of their appearance depending on the difficulty.
Pilauli
Posts: 115
Joined: August 18th, 2020, 12:56 pm

Re: Inky's Quest - The Cuttlefish Campaign

Post by Pilauli »

Telchin wrote: November 23rd, 2020, 7:26 am My pixelart skills are even worse than my coding skills, so for custom units in this campaign I had to rely on "frankensteining" existing sprites (in Master Sea Head's case I just enlarged and cropped the cuttlefish sprite). So unless someone volunteers to make a better sprite for me, it's not going to improve.
You could ask if you could use this thing, maybe.
https://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.ph ... 90#p603890

I remember seeing it a while ago and thinking it looked really cool.
User avatar
Telchin
Posts: 355
Joined: December 20th, 2010, 10:01 am
Location: Czech Republic

Re: Inky's Quest - The Cuttlefish Campaign

Post by Telchin »

Good news, everyone! I managed to temporarily overcome my laziness and published a new update: version 1.5.6! The changes are mostly based on egallager's suggestions (but not all of them - for example I didn't change starting gold in any scenario).
  • The fish spawned every turn in "The Divining pool" are still loyal, but now they only spawn if there are 4 or less fish of the same type (for maximum of 6 fish of each type). The fish can still overwhelm the undead if the RNG favors them, but it should not be as overwhelming as before. I could set the limit lower, but I wnated it to be same for all four wardstones and didn't want to make the fight on the player's side of the island too easy. Note that the fish spawned when you destroy one of the wardstones are unaffected by this limit.
  • Turning mushrooms into shallow water is now a macro (luridly named WET_FUNGUS) and on easy difficulty is also used in "Burial at Sea" ("Drowned Dwarves's Day" uses it regardless of difficulty). Note that it doens't make "Burial at Sea" much easier as the only fungal groves in that scenario start occupied by Cave Eyestalks.
  • On easy difficulty "High Risk, Low Tide" uses similar event to above, but with deep water instead of shallow water (shallow water is used by the DRY_OUT macro in the same scenario to determine which hexes dry out).
  • The turn when Ravyan appears in "Drowned Dwarves Day" changes according to difficutly, as per egallager's proposal. However his starting army doesn't (I decided that delaying his appearance is enough of an advantage to make the scenario easier).
  • Gold provided by some events in "Drowned Dwarves's Day" changes according to difficulty as per egallager's proposal. However the health of "Easter Egg" merfolk doesn't because I think that with their current health they're easy enough to kill.
  • Fixed a typo in Eldritch Tentacle's animation and some typos in Czech translation that I didn't notice before.
Post Reply