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techumseh
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of the frozen North.
Apr 1999
time: 22:14
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I've sent James an email, informing him of his win, and asking if he'll join in on this thread to discuss the entries.
I'm pleased to offer my comments and observations on the 4 entries.  I considered different approaches, including assigning point values for different aspects of the scenarios. In the final analysis, I decided that it was really very subjective. So I decided to go first of all with my impression based on a play through without looking at anything but the Readme beforehand. The questions I asked myself were: Is it fun?, Does it hold my interest?, Does it have new techniques?, Is it clear what I should be doing? Does it have the right atmosphere?, Are there clear strategy alternatives?, and so on.
Secondly, after a play through, I opened each one up with cheat mode to evaluate the technical aspects. I looked for a working knowledge of scenario making, and use of the new Test of Time features: new events language, multiple maps and sprites. I gave more weight to my impressions than to the technical aspects.
All four were very well made scenarios; each with it's own strengths. So in the end, the decision was really just my opinion. Here are some comments on each one:
Stoker- This scenario has the best balance between elements. It plays well, the art is good and the events are skillfully rendered. The emphasis is on affecting diplomacy. Despite some (Hungarian) criticism of place names, it shows good historical research. It is the only scenario to use ToTs' animated sprites. I especially like the three choices of victory conditions. It also has three alt. scenario files, very underutilized in scenario making since being pioneered in "Jules Verne" from the FW CD. I think it suffers from having only one (playable) map, though this may be inevitable in a historical scenario.
King- I certainly like the way the author weaves the historical Vlad into the fictional Dracula in this scenario. There's extra effort to create atmosphere, including music and City and Dialog bmps which go in the main ToT directory. Use of events is creative, but fails to use the new capabilities which ToT provides. The game plays well, and organizing a successful defense against the initial Turkish attack takes skill. There is some good art here, but it's not consistent, especially on the Bran Castle map. The (Carpathian) map is good, but is perhaps too large for the scenario.
Harris- This is the most polished scenario. It is a fantasy scenario, not based on the novel or the historical Vlad. It does have vampires, however. It has attractive and consistent artwork, though somewhat bright and cheery for a vampire scenario. It demonstrates a mastery of ToT events and rules. The events are extensive and sophisticated. There is a strong focus on the tech tree as the backbone of the scenario. A coloured tech tree map is included. Game play suffers from the small map and weaker than advertised threat from the forces of the Necromancer. Much time is taken up just holding off the numerous barbarians while trying to research non-corrupt techs. Still, simply on it's technical merit, this scenario deserves a top spot.
Shelley- I had the most fun playing this scenario. It's the only one which is based just on Bram Stokers' novel. It plays well and unpredictably. The art is a bit "avant-garde", but conveys the appropriate mood. I especially liked the evil hand for the cusor. The events are simple, but use ToT elements. It's the only scenario to use all four maps: one for Transylvania, and three stacked vertically for the castle. The atmosphere is good just from the art and events, but the author could have effectively made use of sound as well. Like all of the entries, the Readme file could have been more extensive. I overlooked a bit of "apple polishing" directed at the judge in the Readme (honest!). As the author says, it's "gloriously cheezy". My favourite!
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Shelly
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Washington, DC
Jul 2001
time: 00:14
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Gee, thanks for the support, everybody.
The good news is that I'm here on the board at last. The bad news is that I seem to have accidentally stuck myself with the screename "Shelly."
Ah, well.
I thought that all the entries were really strong and that they were all really different from one another. I don't know if I could have chosen one, myself.
If anyone is interested, here's how I built mine.
I'm afraid that I'm no good at hex editing, so everything on the map and in the .scn file was done the long way. Every terrain square with a road in it, for example, was selected, then edited individually with the cheat menu.
Some of the terrains I drew from scratch in Paint Shop Pro (particularly the "indoor" terrains), while others are modified versions of terrains from the "Fantasy" version of ToT and from various FW terrain collections. The "Forest" terrain images are partly my own and partly the product of fiddling around with some forest terrains I found in a collection on Apolyton, posted by none other than our Magyar chum Mike J.
Dracula's castle (seen on the Transylvania map) is a scanned and resampled pencil drawing. The "Ruined Castle" is an image that I lifted from the contest judge's own "Prince of Darkness" scenario. "The Crypt" is a piece of resampled Halloween clip art, as is the "Vampire Bat" unit.
Most of the other units were created in a 3-D figure modeling program called "Poser", which I don't hesitate to reccomend highly. They were designed, clothed, posed, and then resampled down to unit size.
The Black Coach is a modified version of an image from a great collection of fantasy units that I found on Apolyton. My apologies, but I honestly can't remember who posted it! That's a shame because it's a really great resource and whoever is responsible for compiling it deserves the credit.
The "Hand of Dracula" cursor was also designed in Poser, then tinted and modified in Paint Shop Pro.
Many of the "Improvements" (the ones I changed, anyway--I'm afraid that the scenario is a little short on new Improvements) were photos I've taken, digitally filtered with some of the special effects available in Photoshop, while others were clippings from old magazine ads, scanned and modified the same way.
The "Soot-Stained Brick" border is actually another one of my photos, modified with the "Graphic Pen" filter in Microsoft Photo Editor.
Originally I intended to lift all the text directly from Bram Stoker's novel. This proved impractical, as there were some things I had to include which there weren't any applicable quotes for. I wound up writing more than half of my text, in a sloppy attempt to match Stoker's lurid style. I hope that I haven't done the old ghoul too much of a disservice and that you can endure my prose. Mea culpa.
This is probably far more than you actually wanted to know about "Horror of Dracula". Still, it's been months since I've looked at it and there is probably a lot that's slipped my mind.
All questions will be cheerfully answered, if you have any. Now I will go download the other entries, so that I'll have something to talk about besides myself.
Last edited by Shelly on 04-07-2001 at 05:03
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Shelly
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Washington, DC
Jul 2001
time: 00:14
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Magyar Crusader: I just looked at the file and-oops! 
It was in fact Mike Mccarty's "Huge Collection of Terrains". Or at least that's where the modified images came from. (Some of the forest terrains were done from scratch).
My apologies about the mix-up. It had been some time since I looked.
Techumseh: I wrote a heavily modified FW scenario, set in the far, far future with a time-travel angle. I gave it the vainglorious and lurid title "The Return of the Abominoids." The plot, while perhaps a little brain-damaged, is amusing enough and it has some time-paradoxes built into the events file that you might enjoy. It's fairly challenging, but winnable.
Also wrote a mystical redux version of the "Crusades" scenario, in which all of the standard occult legends about the Knights Templar and the Hospitaliers are true (it's possible to summon demons and angels, find the Holy Grail, or even to accidentally trigger a Biblical Armageddon by delving too deep into the Arcane Mysteries). Had to test this one extra-carefully for balance, but all the available civilizations are pretty well playable.
Wrote two Superhero scenarios as well. One is a reasonably brutal satire in the spirit of "Marshal Law" or "The Tick"--a military scenario in which a bunch of thuggish superheroes with names like "Doctor Atomic" and "Suicide Lad" square off against the forces of a tiny Latin American republic. It mocks action movies, superhero comics and so forth. If nothing else, it's funny... I hope.
The other one is set at the end of the 1960s. America is tearing itself apart, what role will superheroes play as the nation re-invents itself? It uses all seven civs, all of whom have various strengths and weaknesses. Sort of a "New American Civil War" scenario (I know that there have been plenty of those since the classic "USA 2010") with a bunch of special units and a whole lot of Events. This one too was tough to balance, particularly since the superheroes themselves have such widely variant advantages.
The scenarios I managed to post at Apolyton before I had my problem are: A satirical "Conspiracy Theory" verison of history called the "Secret Scenario" (I confess that one needs a little work--it was the first scenario I ever wrote).
A scenario set on Mars, in which you attempt to revitalize the six dying Martian civilizations (I'm pretty proud of this one. Sven was kind enough to say some nice things about it too)
And a near-future scenario set in America and entitled "Of Future Fears."
Kull: Nice of you to offer! I'll send you some files. Love to hear what you think.
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Shelly
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Washington, DC
Jul 2001
time: 00:14
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Forgot to mention. Mike, the .dlls look absolutely great. How on earth did you do that?
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Angelo Scotto
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Milan, Italy
Oct 1999
time: 05:14
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First of all congratulations to James and William,
I don't envy techumseh, all 4 scenarios are very good.
BUT, i was not able to play correctly Shelley and necrociv
With necrociv i had just a small annoyance: i was not able to build catapult units (I played Immerites, it was intended or not?)
With Shelley i had several problems:
1) I played it three times and each time i destroyed one coffin (the one in old abbey), won a battle against Dracula unit and Tot said me i won the scenario (and removed Undead civ).
2) Screen refresh doesn't happen as with other scenarios when i move in black tiles, i had to press 'c' (center on unit) to have the map correcly refreshed.
3) My map is full of Dracula units, is this intended? (looking at events text i thought there was just one Dracula unit but AI civ is building them).
4) When Van Helsing discovers Holy water my cities can start building Holy Water units and they cost even less than Stout Yeoman, was this intended?
5) When i look in Civilopedia for Magda description i obtain Elizabeth one, when i ask for Sabina, i obtain Magda one and so on.
Does anyone else suffer this problems? I extracted the scenario on a different partition than partition in which Tot is installed but all other scenarios are on the same partition so i don't think this is the problem.
Any suggestion?
Techumseh:
I don't remember if MODManager is able to copy also dll, when i wrote it i didn't know about dll's switching.
BTW, a lot of time ago i sent you a mail about russian war event, have you received it?
Magyar Crusader:
really good your work in changing dlls, it was a pain to download them but at the end i obtained a great reward.
Shelley:
Sorry for the silly question:your other scenarios are for Tot?
Greetings,
Angelo
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William Keenan
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New Jersey, USA, Earth, Sol, Milky Way
Sep 1999
time: 00:14
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Techumseh: Thanks for Judging this contest - it must have been a huge investment in time for you. Great methodology for picking a winner, too.
James: Congratulations! Great job! I also share Angelo's curiosity as to the format of your other scenarios. Any that are written for ToT I would be glad to host on the Cradle of Civilization.
Additionally, anyone who has ToT art, icons, or units, etc., that they feel are worthy of posting should send then to me.
Angelo: You are correct about the catapult thing in Necrociv. I did not notice this myself. I had tremendous difficulty getting the game to produce all the units that should have been available so I am not surprised by this.
I'm honored that Necrociv won the People's choice award and was runner up in the regular contest. In honest evaluation of Necrociv it suffered from a lack of playtesting and balancing. As this is my first scenario I was dumb-struck by the incredible amount of time that playtesting requires. Had I been able to invest the time I'm sure it would have been a much more entertaining scenario (and I would have finished it in the year 2021).
Another mistake I made with Necrociv is that I just tried to do to much. The events file filled the entire 100k heap and there was so much more I wanted to add. In the forums and in personal email I often espouse the many wonders of the ToT event language and went to great lengths to demonstrate it with Necrociv. The scenario would have been better served by a more narrow approach that focused on the story and game play rather then on technical craftsmanship.
It’s clear to me that Necrociv needs some reworking and collaboration.
I would like to tell you how great the other scenarios were, but I can not – I didn’t play them. The last few months of scenario design and playtesting burned me out so bad that I have not been able to play a scenario more then a few turn since. Now I play the Original game – something I never did before.
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Shelly
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Washington, DC
Jul 2001
time: 00:14
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Angelo: You're right--these are serious problems. My apologies. I'll look into this ASAP and see if I can figure out what's gone wrong, whether you got a bad copy or whether the master on my hard drive is that goofed-up.
The problem with the AI making dozens of Draculas surfaced in playtesting, but I thought I had brought it under control in the version I actually posted.
The problem with the whole scenario shutting down after you eliminate two coffins and drive off Dracula is new to me. Didn't happen in playtesting on my end. Still, I think I'd better check and make sure.
The "Holy Water" bug is something that I thought I had eliminated after testing the first version of the scenario (there was an identical problem with the Crucifix and the Host).
It's a shame that the Civilopedia is acting up too, that's actually one of the things I'm proudest of.
The map refreshing problem is a baffler. Has anyone here ever heard of scenarios with this bug, and if so, do you know any fixes for it?
Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I'll dust off my copy and see if I can find out what's giving you the trouble.
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Shelly
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Washington, DC
Jul 2001
time: 00:14
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Before I forget, Will and Angelo--all the scenarios I mentioned were actually written in FW. "Horror of Dracula" is my first attempt at writing sceanrios for ToT.
I do however have some new ToT unit graphics that I'd be more than happy to share.
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Angelo Scotto
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Milan, Italy
Oct 1999
time: 05:14
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James:
thank you very much for your help
I'm new to scenario design so forgive me if it's a wrong idea but i heard that there was a bug in Tot macro language when using flags as counter, maybe it has something to do with the early-end problem?
For "Holy Water" problem, i don't know if Crucifix and Host works correctly in my version (i won before obtaining them  ) i'll check soon and i'll make you know.
Map Refresh problem: I met this one before, it was with converted version of Colonies II by John Ellis i think, i remember that because i thought that CivConverter made some mess converting graphics files but when i opened Terrain bmps i was not able to find the problem (but if no one else has this problem it means that it's not a scenario-related problem, maybe it's just a fault of my video card or who knows whatelse), the only strange thing is that this bug hits some scenarios and not others, really strange.
William:
NecroCiv is a great scenario, you redesigned nearly all aspects of the game,
it probably could be easily changed into a modpack, like standard Tot Fantasy game.
Greetings,
Angelo
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William Keenan
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New Jersey, USA, Earth, Sol, Milky Way
Sep 1999
time: 00:14
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I spent a month of testing and I can assure everyone that the COUNT parameter in the CHECKFLAG statement does NOT work as described in the MACRO.TXT file. In fact it behaves exactly like the THRESHOLD parameter.
quote:
NecroCiv is a great scenario, you redesigned nearly all aspects of the game, it probably could be easily changed into a modpack, like standard Tot Fantasy game. |
Thanks Angelo. Modpack ... that is an interesting thought. Perhaps a much modified version of Necrociv could be made into a good Modpack.
Yeah, I changed just about every aspect of the game in Necrociv: movement, combat ratios, wonder expiration, schism, diplomacy, and of course the Tech Tree. Ironically, many to the systems got a radical overhaul to achive a relitively small design goal. For example, the whole system of combat raitios in was included to down play the value of forts and city walls in the game. I did not want a player to fortify a unique character in a walled city and thus be able to hold off the Vampyre hordes indefinately.
ToT provides some neat tools for diplomacy. In Necrociv I was able to forbid comunication between the humans and the Vampyres untill a human kingdom becomes corupt. A corupted kingdom can talk, make peace, trade some techs, and even ally with with the Vampyres. Obviously, this is a huge leap forward from the FW diplomact model.
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I had a suspicion about yours though, Mike. Any Dracula scenario in which the HUNGARIANS are the protagonist is bound to get the mental wheels turning! 
