Hi anyone who is still playing this game,
I'm working on a campaign for which I'm making extensive changes to the ruleset. I've figured out how to disassemble many segments of the engine code and I want to use this to recreate that feeling you had when you played AoW for the very first time, when everything was new and you had to learn how the game works. So you could consider this a total conversion since there will be way more changes compared to any of the existing rulesets.
Stuff I've figured out how to modify:
Here's an incomplete list of specific changes I made to the ruleset that are most likely final:
Lots of stuff still only exists in my mind; I have a pretty clear idea which races exist and how the campaign progresses but so far what I've actually done is limited to changes to the ruleset, a couple of sprite recolours, and setting up most of the units (this is done completely from scratch). I thought it best to create this thread early since it doesn't seem that many people are still active around here.
Most of the campaign maps will actually be rather small, but there will also be one of two large maps and the whole campaign will be quite long. Many maps will have tactical objectives (e.g. holding a bridge-head for a certain number of turns against increasingly overwhelming odds) rather than simply killing all other leaders. Instead of choosing from 5 leader races, the campaign hero will be one of five classes, not all of which can cast magic. Uber heroes are made somewhat more difficult by higher cost for raising DEF and fewer overpowered abilities/spells. I'm also seriously considering removing hero items completely, but I'm not yet sure how to make dungeons attractive since just gold seems boring.
The entire alignment system and the magic spheres will be quite different from vanilla AoW. Also, many spells that can easily be exploited by a human player (like Wind Walking) will be removed entirely. For story reasons, summoning spells will only be available to the AI. Races will get three units for the first three city levels and one level 4 unit, for a total of 10 (from 12).
The races will be based on some of the default AoW races, but only in terms of graphics. The gameplay will be quite different, both in terms of individual unit stats/abilities but also in terms of how the race works overall. Most races will be neutral to hostile at the beginning and the story will partly revolve around bringing some of them together against a common enemy. The campaign starts with the player taking control of an army of Elves and Halflings (both culturally closer to AoW Humans) against an invasion by the Dwarves (which are kind of like Vikings). Names will likely be changed.
Races:
I plan to do most of the work myself, but I would also appreciate help in certain areas. Particularly, I'm always looking for high-quality unit sprites. I've downloaded all the sprite packs but only used a couple of sprites of those since most were of poor quality or otherwise inappropriate.
Stuff I could need help with, from most to least important:
If anyone knows ASM I'd also appreciate help with disassembling the engine code. I still haven't found where to change movement cost for terrains, for example.
Anyone interesting in helping, please post in this thread and let me know in which area you can produce quality work. Please be advised that I will keep full creative control over this mod, however.
I'd also like to hear constructive feedback about the campaign and the ruleset from anyone who still loves this game. This project is fueled by motivation, and feedback gives me motivation.
[This message has been edited by And G (edited 07-06-2015 @ 06:50 AM).]