Hey everyone! It has been a while since we've done an article, as we first had several events in June, and afterwards we felt like simply making progress on the game. But it is time to entertain the crowds once again.
We asked the Discord community what they wanted to hear about this time, and they said - campaign! So, let's explore what the campaign is going to be like in Godsworn.
We will cover topics such as:
- How the co-op will work in the campaign
- What missions you can expect during Steam Early Access
- The glyph progression system
- How much inspiration are we taking from history and myth
- What will the cutscenes be like
Let's dive into each of these aspects and explore what you can expect in the campaign!
Co-op Campaign
Godsworn's campaign will be playable with 1 to 2 players, allowing you to invite a friend and experience the story together. In single-player mode, the other slot will be filled by an AI player which can be given basic orders. The 2-player campaign is designed to provide the flexibility to switch between player slots, allowing you to experience the campaign as the other hero choice on a second playthrough. While most of the time you will be experiencing the story together, some of the missions might feature an alternate experience for each hero.
Each mission will feature a duo of heroes, which will be part of the story in that mission. The heroes will change based on what is going on in the story, and you will be able to return to a favorite later down the line.
The Missions
To summarize a complex topic in a comprehensive way I will make a couple comparisons to other games. We were inspired by Warcraft 3 and Age of Mythology style of campaign missions. Things like thematic mission maps that are handcrafted, in-game cutscenes, small side missions to help your main objective that grants things like a buff or unit.
With that in mind, I should remind you that Thunderoak is made up of two devs. We will do our best to make it a campaign experience players expect, but usually such campaigns are made with much larger teams. For Early Access, we are aiming to have 6 missions available to play, with the rest finished during Early Access or on full release.
Glyphs
During campaign missions and challenge maps, glyphs can be obtained. These hidden powers can be found in secret areas or be rewarded upon completing certain objectives. These glyphs grant you small bonuses that prove useful in accomplishing your mission. For instance, the glyph in the screenshot below increases the hero character's health regen by 2. The variety of glyphs is extensive, ranging from simple stat boosts to small divine powers or even unique structures.
You get to keep these glyphs after the mission, and before starting the next mission you can choose which ones to have active. Additionally, you can take these glyphs into a custom game, with the option to disable them.
Story, history and myth
Now you might be wondering what the story is about and how historical it will be. The main story will be about the strife between Baltic gods while the Order launches a crusade using it as an opportunity. But as a whole, the focus will be on the gods themselves and their worshippers. We largely take inspiration from Latvian dainas (folk poems) and the Livonian Chronicle.
This world and story, while mostly inspired by the Northern Crusades and Baltic mythology, still remains an original world and timeline. Mixing history and myth, we need to take some liberties to make a coherent world and story. There might be references to stories of myth, or historical battles or places, but all told through our own interpretation.
Cutscenes
A specific question we received on Discord was: how will the cutscenes work? So let's answer that.
The in-mission cutscenes will be using in-game assets and good old camera pans. The text will show up next to portraits, basically the classic RTS way of telling a story. Whether we will have voice acting in-mission, we have yet to see, as it depends on budget and time constraints we have.
Meanwhile, the cutscenes outside of the missions will be illustrations with voiceovers. They will be in a similar style to the cover art image, while considering how much time we can spend per image. The one illustrating these is also the character concept and model artist, so we have to choose where to spend that time wisely.
Thank you for reading about the campaign and I hope that you're excited to see how it turns out. If you have any suggestions or want to see the occasional in-development shot, feel free to head to our Discord: Discord.gg
Also, in August, we have some exciting events lined up for Godsworn! We will be conducting a playtest first and then participating with a public demo during Steam Strategy Fest. There will be more info on Discord when these are getting closer. Hope to see you there!
And don't forget to Wishlist and follow Godsworn on Steam!
